Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

For almost two years, we have seen the Israeli state deliberately attempting to exterminate the Palestinian people by bomb, bullet and starvation. Gaza is now one big concentration camp and 2.3 million people are facing annihilation and starvation. Some 65,000 people have been murdered, included 25,000 children. Every international agency of note has condemned Israel, including the international courts. Last week, the United Nations deemed what is going on in Gaza as genocide. The prime minister of Israel is subject to an arrest warrant. The latest outrage last night is piracy and the kidnapping in international waters of Irish citizens, including a Member of the Oireachtas. This is absolutely outrageous. There have been many emergency sittings of this Oireachtas to pass legislation for much less serious matters than what we are facing in Gaza and on the international stage. Surely it is now time to call an emergency sitting of this Oireachtas, of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, to pass the occupied territories Bill, to impose sanctions and to stop military flights through Shannon Airport. Surely the situation we see in Gaza demands such a response. The Irish people have a particular bond with the Palestinian people through our colonial past, our famine - An Gorta Mór - and through our neutrality. It is time that the Government called an emergency session of this Oireachtas to impose sanctions, to pass the occupied territories Bill and to stop military planes going through Shannon.

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