Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

I want to welcome the families and relatives to the Gallery. They are here because of what is happening in Palestine. Yesterday, a nurse was shot on the job. I have seen kids carrying other kids on their backs. It is a common sight. The worst I saw was a kid carrying a shrouded dead sibling on their back. The fact that governments have allowed this genocide to happen is a stain on the world.

This has been an eye-opener for so many people. It has been the most politicised issue of this generation, like Vietnam was for previous generations. People have gone on the flotilla because they see the inaction and inability of the official system to act. We have seen the worst of humanity and the best of humanity. The best of humanity is on the likes of the flotilla, where people have given their time and risked their lives to act.

I want to salute the working class of Italy for waging a general strike this week and blockading arms and other military materials, despite their leader supporting Israel, in effect. There were protests in Spain. In Berlin, 100,000 people protested despite their government's appalling repression of the solidarity movement. Türkiye, Spain, Italy and Greece are also sending drones to watch over the flotilla, but what is the Government doing? There are drones flying burgers over Blanchardstown, but could we not do something to help?

I want to mention the peace deal that has been talked about. The trio of some of the world's worst humans is behind that peace deal. Tony Blair is a war criminal. Netanyahu is a war criminal. Trump is a war criminal for funding a genocide. Let us be clear. Anything they carve up will not be in the interests of the Palestinian people. It is up to the Palestinian people to decide their fate, not these imperial warlords. I marched against Tony Blair 20 years ago. Kids walked out of the school I taught in 20 years ago to protest a war in Iraq he led illegally that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths. He should not be anywhere near Palestine or the so-called Middle East, which is a colonial phrase in and of itself. The Government should deliver that message on behalf of the Irish people.

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