Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)

Every town and village across this island has a Palestinian solidarity group. Some are small and others are much bigger. They are made up of thousands of people who are involved every single week in making sure we do not look away and that we do all that we can to sanction Israel and support the Palestinian people in the face of a brutal and vicious genocide. I refer to groups like Balbriggan for Palestine and Skerries for Peace and people like Dr. Sarah Taaffe, whose exhibition is running in Lusk Community Cultural Centre at the moment, and Mags O'Brien from Trade Union Friends of Palestine. She works every single day of the week and never lets us forget. She knows it is important. These groups and these people want this Government to do all it can to stop the torture of the Palestinian people. They want the Government to insist on sanctions, to lead by example and to explain why the new auto-enrolment pension scheme, which will be rolled out in January, is being managed by Tata Consultancy Services, a company that human rights organisations such as Salam for Democracy and Human Rights reported as early as 2021 provides the core digital infrastructure for Israel's settlement financing banks and is a key partner in Project Nimbus, a military cloud project. We do not want our money being spent on genocide.

Back in the 1980s, led by Mary Manning and the Dunnes Stores strikers, Ireland stood up to the vicious apartheid regime in South Africa. That was leadership. The same leadership is required today. There is nothing left in Gaza. It has been bombed into oblivion. If we cannot stand up and show leadership in this, when, in the name of Jesus, are we going to do it? The Bill is there. Pass the occupied territories Bill in full. Make Israel answer and pay for its actions. Do justice to the suffering of the Palestinian people. Do what Irish people the length and breadth of this State want. Pass the occupied territories Bill in full.

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