Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

First, like others, I acknowledge the horrific attack on a synagogue in Manchester. I send me deepest sympathies to the families of the two deceased. I understand there are a number of other people injured. It is horrific. I condemn outright what appears to have been a blatantly antisemitic attack on Yom Kippur.

I also acknowledge the importance of having made time for this debate today. This is unprecedented. The circumstances are extraordinary, as we see a rapidly evolving situation and a number of Irish citizens put at risk. All of our thoughts and concerns are with those citizens on the Global Sumud Flotilla, who have been part of a humanitarian and who have endured a great deal of intimidation from Israel over recent days, even before the awful events of last night.

We were all following what was going on. We were watching the deployment of water cannon against them, the use of intimidating and frightening tactics by Israel against them and then, of course, most recently and dramatically last night, the illegal detention - abduction, really - of, we think, 15 Irish citizens. I think the Tánaiste said 15 or 16 Irish citizens, among them our colleague in the Oireachtas Senator Chris Andrews, my own constituency colleague. I want to send a particular message to Chris. We know that another Member of the Oireachtas, Deputy Barry Heneghan, is in the broader flotilla. A number of other Irish citizens have also been abducted by Israel. We have had some of their families in this Chamber just recently. I again express our enormous sympathy and solidarity with the families, who must be undergoing enormous distress and concern as they are unable to watch what is going on because so little communication has been possible as a result of the Israeli action.

On behalf of Labour, I condemn Israel for this latest flagrant breach of international law - intercepting a flotilla of ships whose only mission was to draw attention to the horrific genocide being perpetrated by Israel upon the people of Gaza and to seek to bring aid to the civilians in Gaza, who are enduring such unimaginable suffering.

My colleague Deputy Duncan Smith will take on the asking of questions to the Tánaiste and I know the Tánaiste has outlined the efforts being made at diplomatic level by our ambassador, by the Tánaiste himself and by our Department of foreign affairs at the highest level to secure the safety of Irish citizens on the flotilla and, more broadly, an end to the horrific genocide in Gaza. The Tánaiste has already articulated this, as have I. All of us hope there will be a sustainable peace in Gaza. All of us have enormous concerns about the peace proposals that have been put forward but, certainly, we want to see an end to the genocide, the bringing about of a sustainable ceasefire and a sustainable two-state solution for the people of Palestine. We have been watching with horror as over 60,000 civilians in Gaza have been killed under bombardment and man-made famine. We have watched children being killed and maimed. We have watched medics and journalists being killed. A doctor interviewed this week spoke about the horror of standing by a small girl's bedside as she died from bombardment. Her entire family had been wiped out by a bombardment. These are unimaginable horrors and we have to do all we can.

Before I hand to Deputy Duncan Smith, I want to finish by saying again that we have always welcomed what the Government has done. We recognise the Irish Government has been to the fore, along with our colleagues in the Spanish Government, led by our socialist colleague Pedro Sánchez. They have been to the fore in calling out Israel and standing in solidarity with Gaza. We can and should do more because we are a powerful voice on the international stage, and a powerful voice for the people of Palestine. We need to progress the occupied territories Bill with much greater speed and to cover both goods and services. We need to ensure we have no trade with Israel as it commits genocide, and that we are pushing at the strongest level, a European level, to ensure that at EU level too there is an end to trade and effective sanctions on Israel.

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