Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

As we sit and stand here today, the genocide continues in Gaza. Some 65,000 people have been murdered, with 20,000 of those being children. I am conscious of not just what is happening in Gaza but also of what is happening in the West Bank and the displacement of people there as well. It is welcome and encouraging that there has been progress on a peace proposal and that significant countries in the region have committed to work with the US to finalise the agreement and ensure its implementation. What it lacks, though, is Palestinian engagement, Palestinian voices and a Palestinian consideration. That should be one of the primary objectives of any peace proposal. We are looking at trying to end what is a genocide in Palestine without the people of Palestine being engaged at this moment on the proposed peace deal. That is a serious problem and needs to be rectified as soon as possible.

It will take generations to rebuild Gaza and to recover from the trauma the people of Palestine have endured. Other Deputies mentioned the European Union. Ireland has led from the front in a European context as a small European nation but the European Union has not stood up to the challenge of addressing what are very clear war crimes and very clear genocide. The suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement is not something that should only be discussed now; it should have been discussed two years ago, and, in some cases, prior to that as well. The occupied territories Bill is going through as priority legislation. As many Deputies said, though, it has been discussed for so long and we have not seen it delivered to date. It needs to be delivered as priority legislation.

Regardless of this peace deal, war crimes have been committed and those involved in Israel need to be brought before the international criminal courts for those very war crimes and they cannot get out of those just purely by agreeing some sort of peace deal.

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