Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

I have two and a half minutes, so I will try to be as focused as I can. I absolutely agree with the comments on Frau von der Leyen. Europe lost its moral compass a long time ago. Frau von der Leyen is telling us that Israel is entitled to defend itself. It is just beyond. If the MEPs from Ireland vote against the motion of no confidence, we are seriously in trouble in Ireland.

On the action from the EU in the context of these discussions, I welcome that we finally have a statement that deplores the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and the unacceptable level of civilian death. What we have is slaughter. We are still playing with words. I welcome that we got those words, however weak and vague, although it has taken more than 20 or 21 months, but there has been absolutely no action. It is simply unconscionable that it has taken this long. It puts into acute focus the need for leadership from this country, as an independent sovereign state and a republic with a particular history of colonisation and famine, and to lead on this matter. It goes to our credibility. For me, the credibility of the EU has been gone for a very long time, although I am a committed European. I put that in, ar eagla na heagla.

I asked for a review of the trade agreement in a question I tabled as far back as November 2021 because at that stage, what was going on was simply unacceptable. Again, there has been no action on that whatsoever.

Our credibility on Iran is at stake. We have a declaratory statement: "The EU has always been clear that Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon." This is despite the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that the agency had not found any proof of an effort to obtain a nuclear weapon on 17 June. Its director said reports that Iran has not been actively pursuing acquiring a nuclear weapon since 2003 are accurate. US intelligence officials have found no evidence of Iran moving towards a nuclear weapon. We are back to weapons of mass destruction. We are back to Israel, a genocidal regime, invading a sovereign state and all we can talk about is mutual conflict between two countries. If we are to call out Russia, which I absolutely do, we need to call out the genocidal state that is Israel. We have to lead.

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