Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann: condemns the actions of the Israeli Government in Gaza, and the destruction and conditions of famine they have wrought on the Palestinian people, resulting in starvation, disease and death;

repeats its condemnation of the brutal attacks by Hamas in Israel on 7th October, 2023, its declaration that the taking of hostages is unconscionable, and its call for the release of all hostages by Hamas;

deeply regrets the failure of the global community to intervene to force the occupying force to lift its illegal blockade on humanitarian aid in place since 2nd March, 2025, and notes that the trickle of aid trucks now being allowed in over the last week is totally insufficient;

condemns the move by Israel and the United States to create their own private body to control aid distribution in Gaza that will not be impartial, neutral, or independent;

agrees that the Israeli Government is carrying out a genocide in Gaza, and is responsible for mass displacement, famine, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity;

welcomes the belated move by the European Union to review the Association Agreement with Israel, and further calls for its immediate suspension;

recognises that the United Nations (UN) Security Council has failed in its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in Gaza, with over 55,000 people killed in the war to date including over 15,000 children, and a further 290,000 children on the brink of death;

recalls that the "Uniting for Peace" resolution 377 A (V), passed by the UN General Assembly in 1950, provides a mechanism for the UN to act in the absence of a unanimous decision by the Security Council, or a veto by one of the five permanent members; and

resolves therefore, that Dáil Éireann mandate the Government to call for a new Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly, where Ireland should table a resolution to:

— note the failure of the UN Security Council and international community to act to end Israel's war on Gaza; and

— call for collective measures to enable the development of a lasting ceasefire, a sustainable peace agreement and the creation of an international peacekeeping force for Gaza, to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid through the UN, and the protection of the safety and security of the Palestinian people.

I do not have to tell the Tánaiste or anyone in this House that thousands of lives - those of children, mothers, fathers and whole families - have been obliterated by Israel's actions in Gaza and the international community has failed to act. Homes are in ruins and schools and hospitals have been turned to rubble, yet the international community has failed to act. Israel has brought starvation, disease and endless suffering upon the people of Gaza and still the international community is failing to act. We need to act now.

The Irish people have not stayed silent. They feel a deep sense of cause with the people of Palestine because Ireland knows occupation and Irish people know what it means to be told your land is not your own, your identity is not your own and your future is not yours to decide. We often talk of Ireland having a unique perspective on world events due to our history. We see events in shades other than black and white but this issue, as it stands, is as black and white as it gets.

Israel is carrying out a genocide against the people of Gaza, facilitated by the United States and others. Israel is responsible for mass displacement, famine, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The attacks of 7 October 2023 were heinous. At every opportunity, they should be condemned. All remaining hostages need to be released. We need to be clear, however, that this confrontation did not begin on 7 October 2023. That date is unfortunately being used by Benjamin Netanyahu as a shield for his actions to this very day. It has become a way for the international community to hide from its own failure to force Israel, as an occupying force, to lift its illegal blockade on humanitarian aid and halt its offensive actions.

In respect of aid, what is happening with privatisation and weaponisation of aid into Gaza is an utter disgrace. Israel and the United States have moved to create their own private body, protected by private security, to control aid distribution in Gaza. This is being done to the horror of trusted, long-standing aid organisations, chiefly the United Nations. Following the resignation of the executive director of the organisation set up by Israel and the United States because it could not fulfil its mission in a way that adheres to humanitarian principles, it is abundantly clear that aid should be handled, delivered and led by the UN. We in the Labour Party echo the view that the UN and aid groups should push back against this new abhorrent system of delivering aid. We agree that Israel is trying to use food as a weapon of war and that a new system will not be effective. I have met with senior members and officials in UNWRA who have the experience and who know how to move rapidly to deliver aid within Gaza. The only blockade they face is that of Israel.

No act of terror or ideology can excuse what Israel has done. Many in the Israeli Government claim it is at war. This is not a war; it is the systematic destruction of a people. This is collective punishment, and it is a crime that Netanyahu and his Government need to answer for. It is important to highlight the words of UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who, when speaking about the crimes Israel has committed, stated, “I am not someone who says history will judge them. They will have to be judged before then.” It is our responsibility to hold those in the Israeli Government accountable, and that is why we in the Labour Party have so strongly supported the International Court of Justice’s case and Ireland's support of it.

The Irish Government has done more than many for Palestine. The recognition of statehood is important. Providing medical care to individuals who have got out of the region is vital. We have sent aid supplies to the border for delivery. Unfortunately, these have been blocked. However, better than others is not good enough. We may be a small country, but nobody can doubt the impact we have made on this world. We need to utilise our diplomatic strength and history to help the Palestinian people. Israel's intentions are clear; it will move to take Gaza and it will not stop there. All the pretence of pretending that Israel only cares about Hamas and wants the Palestinian people to live in Gaza free of Hamas has been dropped. This is a systematic removal and destruction of a people unencumbered by other nations. This behaviour cannot be normalised.

While leading from the front can be treacherous, we have shown time and time again that we can do so and that others will follow. We need to be willing to lead the international community once again. The first signs that other countries are willing to follow is there. The United Kingdom, Germany, France and Canada have all made public statements pushing back against Israel in the past week. The international community has been too slow and has done too little, but the Government does not have to follow that course. The belated move by the EU to review the association agreement with Israel is welcome, but so far it is an exercise in circling the wagons. Our Government can take direct action, pass the occupied territories Bill and support the motion before the House.

It is not enough for the Tánaiste to say that the Government will not oppose the motion, we want him to state that it will action what this motion is calling for, namely a special emergency session of the UN General Assembly. The Palestinian people cannot wait for a review; they cannot wait any longer. Over 55,000 people have been killed in Gaza to date, including more than 15,000 children. A further 290,000 are on the brink of death. What about the UN Security Council's responsibility to prevent that? It failed in its responsibility and, through its inertia, has facilitated warmongering and the destruction of Gaza. The Government yesterday opposed a Sinn Féin Bill on the basis of the belief that it would not align with EU law. That is not a risk with our motion. We heard the Tánaiste commit yesterday to using every lever the Government has to help end the war in the region. This is an opportunity for the Government to back up those sentiments.

The United for Peace Resolution 377A(5) passed by the UN General Assembly in 1950 provides a mechanism for the UN to act in the absence of a unanimous decision by the UN Security Council or get around a veto by one of the latter's five members. This is a chance for more than a symbolic gesture. The UN has become paralysed by the competing interests of the permanent members of the UN Security Council. A resolution must note the failure of the UN Security Council and the international community to act to end Israel’s war in Gaza. It must also call for collective measures to enable the development of a lasting ceasefire, a sustainable peace agreement and the creation of an international peacekeeping force for Gaza to allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Hear, hear.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I second the motion and commend my colleague Deputy Smith and all in the Labour Party for drafting and bringing it before the House. The Labour Party has provided as many options as it can to Government to take further action against Israel and its campaign of genocide. With more than 50,000 Palestinians murdered and their infrastructure and society being wiped out around them, I struggle to imagine how normal life will ever return to Palestine. That is, if there ever has been a normal life for Palestinians. For decades, they have dealt with a powerful occupier funded by the world's best-resourced warmongers. They have had their land and homes stolen and have suffered apartheid for years. They have seen their families murdered and children slaughtered in front of them. They have had their cities, towns, schools, hospitals and lives decimated. The trauma that Palestinian people and children will carry is unbearable. We see very clearly what is happening. Hospitals and schools have been destroyed and thousands of children have been murdered. The oppressor does not want Gaza to ever be rebuilt. It does not want a new generation of Palestinians growing up and learning about what has been done to them. It wants the Palestinian people wiped out completely.

European Union leaders have been turning their backs to acts of genocide throughout this entire onslaught waged by Israel and plamásing Netanyahu. Tens of thousands of innocent people are being slaughtered while Israel is being supplied with military resources by the USA, the European Union and the United Kingdom. Since I was elected to this House in November, I have received approximately 5,000 emails from people in Ireland pleading with every one of us in this Chamber to do everything and anything we can for the Palestinian people. They call on us to condemn genocide, act on the boycott, divest, campaign for sanctions, stop the misuse of Shannon Airport by US military operatives, condemn the inaction of the European Union and its enabling of Israel and enact the occupied territories Bill. People call on us to take action; they are tired of words.

We hear the cries for help from the people of Gaza. That is why we have brought forward this motion to mandate the Government to call for a new emergency special session of the UN General Assembly at which Ireland should table a resolution noting the failure of the Security Council and the international community to act to end Israel’s war on Gaza. I sincerely hope the Government will work with us on this.

I struggle to say something that has not already been said for years. I conclude with the recent words of Dr. Mike Ryan, who summed up where we are now. He stated:

We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza, because if we do not do something about it, we are complicit in what is happening before our very eyes. We are complicit. We are causing this, you, us and everyone who does nothing about it ...

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I am sharing time with Deputies Kelly and Nash.

I thank my colleague Deputy Smith for bringing this motion before the House. We have been here many times before. The reality is that we have almost 500,000 women, men and children now being starved to death in front of our eyes. Approximately 1 million more people are on the brink of starvation and, yet, there are 116,000 metric tonnes of food, more than four-months supply, sitting metres from where hundreds of thousands of people live.

Let us make no mistake here. This is a war on children. This is a war intent on cutting off the future of those thousands of children in Palestine. It is a war intent on the annihilation of the Palestinian people, a war so depraved that even former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who certainly has not covered himself in glory previously, says this is a war motivated "knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated", "a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians." Those words are an understatement of what is happening right now in Gaza.

Over recent months, any of us who have criticised the Israeli Government have been accused of anti-Semitism. I defy anyone looking at the pictures yesterday of the food distribution centres to say that they show any kind of humanity or dignity. I defy anyone looking at the children with bullets in their chests, or the reports of children with bullets to their heads to say this is anything other than an act of depravity. People are forced to walk 15 km, the young, the old and the disabled excluded. There are pictures of people squeezed into an orderly pen. It looks like a concentration camp and I do not say that lightly. The deliberate positioning of the food camp to the south is to force an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from the north. During the week Antonio Guterres said that just a teaspoon of aid is being let in. The forced starvation of people into submission, into complete defeat is an abomination. I cannot get the image out of my head that has been circulating during the week, of Siwar Ashour, a six-month-old baby. That image haunts my mind, those glassy, outsized eyes, the emaciated arms, what looks like a smile. I fed my own three babies and it is the most remarkable feeling to be able to give life, nutrition and growth from a mother's body to a baby, but right now the mothers of Gaza cannot do that. Babies are being condemned to death.

The motion today is about taking action. It is not just about decrying the depraved acts we are seeing in front of us right now, but saying that we need to show moral leadership at the United Nations. We have been saying it for months with regard to the occupied territories Bill and I welcome in part what the Government is doing, albeit we are deeply disappointed about the services. I was under no illusions when I listened to the Taoiseach yesterday trying to minimise what the occupied territories Bill could do, saying it amounts to a small amount of goods. It is only between €500,000 and €1 million but we should not underestimate the symbolism of passing the occupied territories Bill. On the Israeli war bonds that are currently being licensed by the Central Bank of Ireland, if the law is wrong, we need to change the law. The Government's approach on this is really disappointing. We could change the law if we saw fit but the Government is choosing not to. This is about doing everything within our power as a small country to ensure that we take a stance, that we are not looking back in 50 years' time and saying we failed the Palestinian people as they were being wiped out.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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We need a step change. Someone needs to lead the international community in a different way. I thank Deputy Duncan Smith for bringing forward our motion. It will be voted on tonight and we want everyone to support it. We need to lead that step change. Our proud history as a country in trying to lead on international change, international relations and peacekeeping dictates that we have a moral duty to do so. We all condemn what happened in relation to Hamas on 7 October 2023. We call for the release of all hostages. Simply put, what is happening now is genocide. The Israeli Government is conducting genocide. If any members of that government stepped off a plane here in Ireland, I would expect them to be arrested. I expect the Tánaiste would agree with that. As a country, we have to stoke a UN Assembly which is effectively neutralised because of an Israeli lobby that is so powerful around the world. Somebody has to act. Why can it not be little Ireland? Why can it not be this country? Why can it not be us? That is what we are trying to drive today, by ensuring that this House is mandated to call a special assembly to ensure that an emergency special session is called where a resolution states that the Security Council has failed and the international community has not acted. There are precedents for this. Under Resolution 377 A, which was passed by the General Assembly in 1950, we are now calling for collective measures to enable the development of a lasting ceasefire, a sustainable peace agreement and, most importantly, an international peacekeeping force that will ensure people are not starving and that peace can be maintained and aid can get into Gaza. Every day, as we are standing, talking and debating here, children are dying. Will the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade do that on behalf of the Irish people following a mandate given to him by this House, as proposed by Deputy Smith and the Labour Party today?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Where one stands on the genocide in Gaza is the moral question of our time. For the vast majority of us, the only action we can take is to attend a protest, write to our TD or boycott goods and services. However, there are 174 of us in here who have greater agency, 15 of us who have an extra special responsibility, the Tánaiste included. Members of Government must show the moral leadership cruelly absent across the world, with some notable exceptions, a cowardice that has allowed tens of thousands of children to be murdered and starved to death because of where they were born, where they happened to live. By implementing rather than merely not opposing this motion, Government has the chance to save countless lives and to kick-start a process where the UN and the discredited international community can finally reassert and find again their collective courage. It is about time the world, not a kleptocratic US Administration, took on responsibility for Gaza and Palestine, morally and in practice. The US has no moral authority whatsoever. It is drained from it. Let us, the rest of the world, mind the scene of what is left of ours. Nobody, not even the Israeli regime's grimmest and keenest supporters, can claim they do not know what is happening and what Netanyahu plans for the destruction and ethnic cleansing of Gaza. There is a step change in the approach of the UK, France, Canada and even Germany in recent days.

A narrow window is opening. Ireland has agency. We have power. We have shown this in the recent past. Along with other smaller states, we recognised the State of Palestine. This was dismissed at the time by some as tokenism. It will matter in the end. Political figures in France, the UK and elsewhere are now giving that idea some considerable thought. We moved in this Parliament to try to ban goods and services from the occupied territories. We were dismissed then as being unrealistic, accused again of a form of tokenism. I predict that such measures will now go mainstream and in larger, more influential countries. We said years ago that we should suspend or at least review the EU's association agreement with Israel. This is now, tens of thousands of massacred Palestinians later, the express official view of the majority of EU member states. This tells us that we in Ireland have called it right. Labour and the other cosignatories of this motion are calling it right again. The Tánaiste must call it right too. Let us move beyond the device of not opposing the motion to avoid a damaging vote for the Government, to implementing the motion's demands. Starving Gazan children cannot eat well-meaning statements. Let our Government build alliances and challenge the UN to assert itself again, to find its moral authority and courage again, to act to end the war, to allow for aid through the UN and to form a peacekeeping force to protect the people of Gaza and set the ground for a lasting peace and a just resolution.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Labour Party and Deputy Smith for bringing forward this motion today. I thank them for the constructive way in which they are approaching the most horrific, appalling situation in Gaza and the Middle East, and I mean that. I approach this debate, and respectfully suggest we should all approach it, by moving beyond the mantra of "Government good, Opposition bad" or "Opposition good, Government bad". It does not get us anywhere. There is not anybody in this House, regardless of political background, or anyone in this country who is not horrified and haunted by the scenes Deputy Sherlock rightly mentioned in relation to young children and babies. There is no one in this House who wishes to deliver well-meaning statements.

There is a whole array of people, including hundreds upon hundreds of people in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the European Union, embassies across the world and the United Nations, mandated by this Government and House to speak up and speak out for our values and to use every possible lever. They are doing that and they are doing this country, a small country, extraordinarily proud. I thank them for their work.

It is right that we take every opportunity we can in this House to consider what further actions we can take to help press for peace and to end the onslaught on the people of Gaza. Day after day, for almost 600 days, we have witnessed the horrors escalate before our very eyes to the dismay of the Irish people, who cannot fathom the seeming incapacity of the world to bring this injustice, suffering and death to an end and work towards a lasting peace.

I am proud that we live in a country where there is generally a shared perspective and the overarching approach we take is based on the clear view of the Irish people that we must do everything in our power to act against the barbarity of this brutal offensive. While this is true in Ireland, it is regrettable that it is only much too belatedly that a more united voice is being found among the international community in response to the war crimes and genocidal activity that we are witnessing.

I want to clearly restate this country's position. We unequivocally condemn the terror attacks by Hamas in Israel on 7 October 2023. We unequivocally condemn the taking of hostages by Hamas, and we have repeatedly called for their release and repeat that call today. We are clear that Hamas has brought nothing but death and suffering to the people of Palestine and the people of Israel and offer them no future. That is not just my view. That is the view of the President of the Palestinian Authority. We condemn in the strongest possible way the continuing Israeli military operations in Gaza and abhor Israel's clear plans to not only persist but to go further, to starve, to displace, to kill, and to reoccupy.

We call on Israel to fully lift the blockade it has imposed and allow for unimpeded access of humanitarian aid at scale into Gaza. People are starving in Gaza today for one reason only, namely, that the Israeli Government will not let the aid trucks that are in Jordan into Gaza. Thousands upon thousands of trucks, including trucks paid for by Irish taxpayers, are sitting there. The Irish taxpayer-funded trucks have enough food for more than 6,000 people in Gaza. They have been waiting for four months to get into Gaza. The entire population of Gaza is facing high levels of food insecurity. It is on the verge of a famine, with one in five - 500,000 people - facing starvation. This is evil beyond words.

We cry out for urgent efforts to ensure an immediate ceasefire. The Government has been and will continue to be proactive in seeking to achieve all of these objectives and has objectively shown leadership at the international level, both in addressing the immediate situation and in creating the conditions for a just and lasting peace, as we should, because the situation in Gaza is one of unprecedented gravity. The images and reports that are emerging on a daily basis are dreadful and horrifying to behold - of people starving, children dying, malnourished babies, those taking shelter in tents subjected to aerial bombing, bombed-out schools and hospitals, a vast wasteland of rubble where homes and houses once stood, and the basic requirements for human life and human dignity expunged under relentless attack. The urgency of the need for peace could not be clearer. The need for action could not be clearer.

The Government will not just not oppose the motion, but will work constructively with the Labour Party and this House on how we advance it. Some elements under consideration today are already being addressed by existing initiatives at UN level, including within the framework of the uniting for peace Resolution 377, in which I am proud that Ireland is playing lead a role. The motion asks the Government to call for a new emergency special session of the UN General Assembly, which I consider to be a constructive request and will act on. I hope that colleagues opposite will welcome that there is already an emergency special session dedicated to the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. This is the tenth emergency special session, which was established under the uniting for peace resolution. It has been resumed more than 20 times since it was established, including on six occasions since the outbreak of the latest horrific war.

At the resumed tenth emergency session on 24 and 26 October 2023, this country was among the first in the world to call for a ceasefire. This contributed to momentum towards the eventual call by the General Assembly for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in a resolution adopted by an overwhelming majority in December 2023. At the resumed session in May 2024, shortly before Ireland recognised the State of Palestine exactly one year ago today, Ireland strongly supported a resolution to upgrade Palestine's rights at the UN as an observer state and urged the Security Council to give consideration to Palestine’s request for full membership.

Next month, a high-level conference on Palestine and the two-state solution will be held at the UN, chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. This conference was mandated by way of a resolution tabled by Palestine and adopted at the reconvened emergency special session on 18 September 2024. Ireland has been asked by the co-chairs to play a central role at this conference, where we will co-chair one of the working groups, together with Türkiye. The conference will focus on topics central to the two-state solution, including the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the delivery of aid, Palestinian institutions and state building, governance and security arrangements, and how to promote peace and reconciliation. Ireland will co-chair the working group on preserving the two-state solution. For these reasons, the UN conference next month is Ireland’s overriding focus at a UN level. This is also the focus of Palestine and our like-minded partners.

I want to be clear about what the uniting for peace resolution can and cannot do. The uniting for peace resolution, which the Labour motion rightly refers to, dates from the time of the Korean War in the 1950s. The reality is that only once in 70 years, back in 1956, has the resolution been used to establish a peacekeeping force. This was under very specific circumstances at the time, in which all the parties and the key members of the Security Council were in agreement. Sadly, similar circumstances do not exist today. That is not a reason to not try but I just want to say that. There is a reason why it has not been used for this purpose since then. The General Assembly can only recommend action, but such recommendations only become binding when the UN Security Council compels action, which it has failed to do. While it may be possible to envisage a role for the UN peacekeeping mission, with the agreement of the parties and Palestine and backed by the UN Security Council, I want to be objectively clear that the conditions do not exist today.

This is not to say that the UN General Assembly does not have a role to play. It clearly does. That is not to say we should not seek its special convening as per the Labour Party's motion. Consideration of any issue by the General Assembly is a significant indication of its importance to the international community and an opportunity for each member state to speak in defence of the protection of the fundamental values of United Nations. The fact that Palestine can now table its own resolutions, and has done so, is also significant and helpful. Ireland is working closely with international partners to bolster efforts to implement the two-state solution, including through meetings of the global alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution. The fifth meeting of that alliance took place in Morocco on 20 May. Ireland also participated at the weekend in a meeting of the Madrid group of Arab, Islamic and European countries in an expanded format for a discussion on how to advance implementation of the two-state solution ahead of the UN conference next month. The meeting included a number of additional European countries, I am pleased to say, including for the first time France, Germany and the UK, as well as Brazil.

Last week's decision at the Foreign Affairs Council, when a clear majority of EU member states finally agreed to review the EU-Israel association agreement, was an important step forward. It was a recognition that Ireland's position was right. It came far too late, though, and we in Ireland believe that the agreement should be suspended pending the outcome of that review. We want to use all levers available to the EU to bring about change. It is my view that the agreement should be suspended pending that review.

Our position on this situation is grounded in two simple principles: respect for international law and respect for human rights. We remain convinced that the implementation of the two-state solution is the only way to establish lasting peace and security for Palestine, Israel and the wider region. Today marks 12 months to the day since Ireland’s recognition of the State of Palestine, together with Spain and Norway, and followed closely by Slovenia. We now see the question of recognition at the centre of international debate. The decision we took a year ago contributed to this positive change. I welcome the announcement by Malta that it will recognise Palestine next month. I encourage all other states, including many of our EU partners, to now take that step. Let the people of Palestine know you see them and you hear them. For a couple of large EU member states to take that step would be extremely significant. If people believe in two states, they have to recognise that two states exist.

Here at home, we are working on advancing the occupied Palestinian territories Bill. Regarding services, I will keep saying that I do not have a policy difference with people who want to include services. I want to make sure that the law does not fall at the first legal hurdle. I am happy to be challenged and to be proven wrong at the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee about this issue. I want to work constructively with Deputies on this. I am working constructively with Senator Black. We will forward that legislation to the foreign affairs committee next month for scrutiny. Let us work intensively to make progress. This most horrific situation has gone on for far too long. The Labour Party motion is a constructive step that this House can take today.

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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Roads, schools, hospitals, and homes: none of these exists in Gaza anymore. What was once a densely populated strip, already suffering from decades of siege and blockade, has now become a graveyard of rubble, broken lives and broken dreams. Entire families have been erased and communities have been turned to dust, yet the world continues to watch on. We have entered an era where genocide is not just happening in real time, but it is being livestreamed across social media platforms. The normalisation of mass murder and the casual strolling past images of lifeless children and bombed-out schools is a stain on our humanity.

It is a complete dehumanisation. We saw over the weekend images of Dr. al-Najjar, a paediatrician who has dedicated her life to children, holding the bodies of her dead children, one just six months old. Only one of her ten children survived. This is not just conflict or war; it is a ruthless campaign of bombardment designed to wipe out a people. Let us be clear - this is happening under the banner of an illegal occupation. Israel's actions are not defensive, they are oppressive and a direct violation of international law. Hospitals are being bombed and journalists and humanitarian workers are being killed while trying to do their jobs. The symbol of the Red Cross, a symbol of hope and relief, has become a target. Yet, the Government and the international community hesitate. We make statements but statements do not stop missiles, rebuild homes or bring back the dead. As a nation, Ireland has led the charge to stand up to say "no more" but this Government needs to take stronger action. No more silence or pretending that neutrality in the face of genocide is anything but support the State of Israel. We are complicit as we continue to hesitate to take the most basic measures to support the Palestinian people. Only by coming together in solidarity can we help move Israel off the current path of apartheid, displacement and mass murder. As we fight for peace let us remember what peace really means.

I will finish by paraphrasing the words of Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the BDS movement. Peace is not just bombs stopping, peace is not just not killing people, peace is quietness. Peace is no bombs, no gunshots, no mothers crying over the bodies of their dead children. Peace is safety - a community of people living without fear. Peace is freedom. Peace is justice. Until Gaza knows peace, we cannot.

George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)
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The ongoing genocide in Palestine perpetrated by an Israeli Government hell-bent on wiping out an entire people is something about which we as part of an international community should be hanging our heads in shame. The entire international community is standing idly by and muttering fine words while thousands of babies, children, women and men are wiped out by evil. The entire international community is standing idly by while a modern-day attempt to exterminate a people is happening in full view. Yet we hear the fine words and condemnations of the countries that told us that after the Second World War, never again would people be allowed to be treated in the manner the Jewish community was treated so horrifically. We stand idly by while a fascist right-wing Israeli monster slaughters and starves the innocent children and people of Gaza. As a nation and a people we recall our own Famine, the oppression we suffered for 800 years and our suffering at the hands of imperialism yet we are complicit among our European brethren in the slaughter of the innocents by our inaction. The term "genocide" is not used lightly. It signifies the intentional destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The actions of the Israeli Government against the Palestinian people fits this definition disturbingly well. The Israeli Government's genocidal actions have created a suffocating environment for the Palestinian people marked by death and starvation. Daily, in front of our eyes, we witness the modern-day extermination of an entire people. The violence, as the world knows, has resulted in a devastating loss of life with in excess of 50,000 innocent civilians, men, women and children slaughtered by evil. The world watches as homes are demolished and families are torn apart yet the international response remains tepid at best. This silence is complicity. Ireland has a rich history of struggle against colonialism and oppression. The Irish people's experience with British rule positions us uniquely to empathise with the plight of the Palestinians. It is time for our Government to reflect on this history and recognise our moral obligation to stand in solidarity with those who are oppressed. Words of sympathy are no longer sufficient. We now need action. One of the most effective ways the Irish Government can support the Palestinian people is by advocating for their rights on the international stage. This Labour Party motion calls for more than just words. The motion asks that Dáil Éireann mandate the Government to call for a new emergency special session of the UN General Assembly where Ireland should table a resolution noting the failure of Security Council and the international community to act to end Israel's war on Gaza and calls for collective measures to enable the development of a lasting ceasefire, a sustainable peace agreement and the creation of an international peacekeeping force for Gaza to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid through the UN and the protection of the safety and security of the Palestinian people. The future of Palestine and its people depend on the actions we take today and every day. Let us not be remembered as bystanders in this critical moment of history.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Every 40 minutes, a child is killed in Gaza. Before their childhood even begins, it is over. By the time we finish discussing this motion, at least three children will have been killed in Gaza. This is the cold, unrelenting truth we must face. It is more than a war; it is a war on childhood and on the children of Gaza because every war, no matter the context or the reason, is a war on children. Israel is operating a scorched-earth policy on Gaza, destroying every trace of Palestine. Gaza's health infrastructure is on the brink of collapse. At least 94% of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed according to the World Health Organization. Only 19 of Gaza's 36 hospitals remain operational. Many of these hospitals are now only able to provide very basic emergency care. We have all heard stories of doctors having to treat the injured on floors or in makeshift tents. During the week, I listened to Dr. Samer Attar, an American doctor, who volunteered in Gaza. He spoke about the horrific death of two young boys, brothers, who died a painful and terrible death due to the lack of something as basic as a blood transfusion. That is the reality in Gaza as we speak in this Chamber, the reality of the lack of the most basic medical supplies. Israel now wants to control aid going into Gaza through its own branded operation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This has been roundly condemned by many aid organisations and countries. Indeed, the foundation's own CEO resigned before it became operational. What we saw yesterday was the effect of this drip-feed of aid on the starving population - desperate, starving Palestinians rushing for food for themselves and their families. No one can know how much aid is actually getting into Gaza now, with humanitarian organisations reporting that at least 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed at a minimum. It now seems that humanitarian aid is a weapon for Israel to wield. Some 71,000 children and 17,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza are in dire need of treatment. There is a gross contrast between an entire population being starved or on the brink of famine while just a few miles away people in Israel are eating in restaurants. The UN Security Council has utterly failed in its duty to protect the innocent civilians in Gaza from the Israeli war machine. We are here because the UN has failed more than 15,000 children who have been killed and the many more are likely to be killed or wounded in the coming days, weeks or perhaps months. This is where Ireland stands out among EU members and says "no more". We have also seen a group of independent human rights experts calling on the UN Security Council to address the Israeli assault on the innocent civilians of Gaza. We need to end the genocide being committed by Israel. We need a ceasefire and lasting peace in Palestine. We must act for Palestine. We must act for peace.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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I thank Labour Party and Deputy Duncan Smith for bringing this motion forward. I apologise to Deputy Smith that I cannot stay for the conclusion of the debate due to commitments at home. I listened intently to the Tánaiste's contribution and read it. One line reads, "If there is to be a two-state solution there must be two states". I believe in a two-state solution. Not everyone in this Chamber does but there must be two states.

It is hard to look at the situation and not wonder what will be left. What will be left of the West Bank? We should not forget the West Bank is being whittled away. There are attacks, human rights abuses and issues with aid there. Gaza is completely destroyed. It is more than demolished; it is incinerated. We see aerial maps of the cities, towns and camps from two or three years ago and what they are reduced to now. Whatever about the rubble and buildings, however, it is about the people of Gaza.

I made the point last week that the word "genocide" is a very loaded and heavy word. It should not be used lightly. How can one escape the conclusion that there is a deliberate attempt to destroy Gaza and eliminate the ability of the people of Gaza to live as a people? That is my opinion. I think of the most recent major allegation of genocide in my lifetime, which was in Rwanda. The international consensus now, and then, was that the international community stood by and watched it happen. I fear and believe the same thing is happening here. The international community is failing. If the genocide in Gaza looks different from what happened in Rwanda, it is because instead of a decentralised, inchoate genocide with machetes and terrible things, it is a powerful, wealthy state using all of its resources and technology to rain down death, misery and suffering. It is essential that Ireland uses its voice to the greatest extent possible at the international level.

The motion centres on the issue of aid because people are starving at this point. Fifty-seven children have been reported dead from malnutrition in Gaza as of 13 May. That is two weeks ago. It is likely others have died and many more will follow. The Israeli Government's denial of aid is deliberate. It will lead to famine if it continues. What has got through since international pressure has increased has been described as a teaspoon by António Guterres and as a drop in the bucket by the UN World Food Programme. There are countless amounts of food outside the borders. I also highlight the weaponising of aid by the Israeli Government and, indeed, the US Administration through the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. If we look at the kinds of things being talked about, including this organisation talking about people coming into compounds, it is not hard to see the echoes from our own history. Aid is being weaponised in the most terrible way and people are starving on account of it. Yes, of course the international community, through the UN General Assembly, has to stand up and be counted and do whatever is necessary to ensure food and aid get into Gaza and people do not starve and die unnecessarily because they cannot get the medical treatment they need.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Israel's Government is starving the people of Gaza. Starvation is being used as a weapon of war. It is a crime against humanity. It is genocide. The stated goal of the Israeli Government and military is the total displacement of the Palestinians of Gaza. Whether by military force or an artificial famine, they want to ethnically cleanse and resettle Gaza just as they have done in parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Israeli Government knows it can act with impunity, backed by the US and certain European powers like Germany. It has a free reign in how it conducts its vengeful war of extermination. Israel bombs hospitals and the West turns a blind eye. It hit a UN convoy with an air strike and there was no response. It murdered an ambulance crew and buried them in rubble. It barred the entry of vital food aid to Gaza and has bombed it flat, leaving tens of thousands at imminent risk of death by starvation, and still there is no response.

The setting up of the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to administer the aid response is wrong on so many levels, including the vetting of aid recipients by cameras and using biometrics, and the guarding of aid by the IDF and armed contractors. That is the proposal. How can those who are inflicting starvation ever be trusted to deliver food aid? Now more than ever, with the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza, we see the need for wholesale reform of the UN Security Council and decision-making. The Palestinian people cannot wait that long. The Irish Government must call for a new emergency special session of the UN General Assembly. International peacekeepers must be deployed to save who they can. The delivery of humanitarian aid must be assured, not used as some horrible ruse to prevent accusations of crimes against humanity.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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A deeply disturbing opinion poll was recently published in the Haaretz newspaper of Israel. Some 82% of the Israeli public support the ethnic cleansing of the 2 million people of Gaza from their homeland. This is an almost entirely refugee community. Furthermore, 65% support the biblical amalek command that all men, women and children should be killed and cleared from the land. That is where we are at. It is utterly horrific and the world has stood idly by. It is unforgivable.

In years to come, we in this Parliament will be asked what did we do in response to this. It is not a time to talk about multilateral approaches with the rest of Europe. If other European countries are willing to accept the mass starvation of the people of Gaza, we cannot stand by. We know our history. We know what happened to our people. One quarter of them died or were forced out of this country. That is our history. We must take a stand on behalf of the Irish people. We must do everything we can, whether it is enacting the occupied territories Bill or the Bill to ban Israeli bonds or passing this motion to have a UN peacekeeping group on the ground. Future generations will judge us. The Government cannot stick to the approach it has taken over recent years. We have now crossed the line where it is clear we are not dealing with rational people. We have to impose sanctions and take a stand as we did with South Africa. We led the way back then. Why are we not leading the way now?

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Chas mise le Sophie Ní Choimín ar an Luan agus chas mé arís léi inné agus í anseo sa Dáil. Tá Sophie ar stailc ocrais ón Aoine agus í ag fanacht go mbeadh an Bille um chríocha faoi fhorghabháil ina reachtaíocht. Tá sí ag fanacht air sin agus tá sí ar stailc ocrais mar go gcreideann sí go láidir gur féidir linn agus leis an Rialtas i bhfad níos mó a dhéanamh chun stop a chur leis an gcinedhíothú atá ag tarlú i nGaza. I have met Sophie Ní Choimín who lives in Galway. I met her on Monday, the fourth day of her hunger strike as she awaits the enactment of the occupied territories Bill. She came to the Dáil yesterday to meet TDs as she continued her hunger strike because she feels so strongly that we and the Government can do more. We often hear that politicians say the right thing but do the wrong thing. There is nothing clearer than the occupied territories Bill. The Government knows that goods account for 30% of trade and services account for 70% of trade. In the lead-up to the general election, Government parties were in favour of the occupied territories Bill being enacted but now, post the election, they want to see a watered-down version enacted which would only include goods. I commend Sophie's bravery.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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I acknowledge that this Government has done more than many governments in relation to what has been said on Palestine and through recognising Palestine.

Earlier, I listened to the Tánaiste speak about the Labour Party's motion and state he would work constructively with the party. I welcome that, but yesterday we heard in this Chamber a disgraceful speech by the Minister about why he was opposing Sinn Féin’s Bill on the sale of Israeli bonds – blood money to pay for the slaughter of innocent men, women and children in Gaza. Therefore, for all the work this Government thinks it is doing, its not standing against the sale of the bonds in this country makes it complicit in genocide. That is a fact. Will the Government not stand up and make it unequivocal that Ireland will not be a haven for the Israeli war bonds and blood money? There is blood on the hands of the Americans, British, French, Germans and all the other countries that sell weapons and bombs to Israel. Why should we be complicit in the selling of bonds to give Israel money to buy those weapons? Will the Minister not stand with us? Will he not stand with the Irish people and tell the Israelis that we will not turn a blind eye to what is happening and not turn our backs on the people of Palestine? For the love of God, will the Government not support the Bill?

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank Deputy Duncan Smith for moving this motion. We in Sinn Féin are proud to be co-signatories. I send my solidarity to Sophie Ní Choimín, atá ar stailc ocrais anois.

Earlier this month, Dr. Trish Scanlan reminded us in the audiovisual room that for death to be counted by the Gazan health Ministry, three criteria must be fulfilled: the person must have died as a result of a violent attack; the person must be presented to a hospital; and someone must be able to identify the person. These criteria do not include the thousands lost under the rubble, nor those who have died from a lack of access to medicine or from starvation, hypothermia or drought.

Israel is committing genocide. It has been called a genocide on children because that is what it is. The use of the term “wounded child, no surviving family” has emerged as part of this terror. The kids are being starved to death. Tens of thousands of children are at risk of death from starvation, and the blockade must be ended. Children are starving less than a couple of miles from food. It is really hard to believe that children are dying of starvation within sight of food. I cannot imagine what it must be like for parents and those who know food aid is close by but who are being blockaded and prevented from gaining access to it.

I welcome the fact that the Government is not opposing this motion, but it well knows the difference between not opposing a motion and supporting it. I urge it to support it, enact in full the occupied territories Bill, support our legislation on the sale of Israeli war bonds and do everything it can, because it will be judged not by its words but by its actions.

Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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Half a million Gazans are starving. Thousands of children are dying from hunger alone because of the Israeli blockade. Yesterday, while very little aid was being distributed, Israeli troops fired at desperate Palestinian civilians. Enough food was given to feed 2% of the Gazan population for half a week. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation director overseeing the delivery resigned in protest, stating aid could not be distributed according to basic humanitarian principles. Aid is blatantly militarised and used as a weapon of war. Israel and the US alone dictate the terms of distribution, and the effects on life in Gaza as we know it are cataclysmic. I plead with the Irish Government to use every tool in the diplomatic arsenal to release the abundant UN aid and allow officials who have the expertise to deliver it to do so.

Meanwhile at home, the Government passes up every concrete opportunity to punish Netanyahu’s genocidal regime. Services are being left out of the occupied territories Bill, dramatically watering down its impact, and the Government is happy to keep raising billions for Israel through blood-soaked bonds. On both counts, the Government is taking cover under mysterious legal opinion, but there is nowhere to hide. The Oireachtas’s own experts back the legality of our Bill and many of our country’s top lawyers support the inclusion of services in the occupied territories Bill.

In the flurry of interviews he has done on this issue, the Tánaiste has claimed there is no policy difference between the positions of the Government and Opposition on Gaza. Let us be clear about this: there is an ocean between us. An ocean of political will separates us from the Government on this.

Kevin Delaney, a pensioner, was arrested last night for shouting his frustration from the Visitors Gallery of this very Chamber. Would you blame him? Sophie Ní Choimín has now gone a week without food because the Government is not acting strongly enough or fast enough. Last week, I spoke about the brave women who intervened at Shannon Airport because the Government will not defend our sovereign airspace. Tá muintir na hÉireann ag seasamh sa bhearna bhaoil. It is simply not good enough that men and women in this State are putting their bodies and reputations on the line.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas le Páirtí an Lucht Oibre as an rún seo a chur os ár gcomhair. Tá Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael ag gníomhú amhail is nach bhfuil an chumhacht acu níos mó a dhéanamh. Tá an chumhacht acu. Dúirt an Chúirt Bhreithiúnais Idirnáisiúnta an-shoiléir go bhfuil dualgas – ní hamháin cumhacht ach dualgas – ar gach uile rialtas stop a chur leis an bhfeachtas cinedhíothaithe atá ag tarlú faoi láthair i nGaza. Ireland has the power to do more. It has a voice at the UN General Assembly and can call for collective measures. Ireland also has the power to stop the investment in illegal settlements. We can ensure that the Irish Central Bank has no role in financing genocide through facilitating the sale, through Ireland, of Israeli war bonds. Ireland can also stop allowing the passage of weapons of war, of genocide, through our airspace, which weapons are used to bomb Gaza. We have these powers and need to take on these issues.

We also have the power to ensure Israel’s genocidal regime does not have preferential trade rights in the EU. We have not done anything to suspend the preferential trade agreement with Israel. In the past two years of the genocidal onslaught, or before that, 60,000 Palestinians have died. It is time for us to stop the trade with Israel. It is time for us to sanction Israel. We should compare our actions now with how quick Ireland was to sanction Russia and suspend trade with it.

Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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There is currently a social media campaign entitled “Don’t stop talking about Palestine”. I fully support it. People, including the campaigners, are concerned that there is fatigue setting in among some, who are asking what exactly they can do. I urge people to keep talking about Palestine and to keep protesting about it, including on the streets and in the Houses of the Oireachtas. I express my solidarity with Sophie Ní Choimín, who is currently on hunger strike for the people of Palestine. I urge people to keep sending us emails on Palestine. In the past couple of weeks alone, we have received thousands of emails from concerned people. I do not believe the Government is listening to the people of Ireland. In this House, the time for talking is over. It is now time for action. We need to enact the occupied territories Bill in its entirety and not have some watered-down version. We need to enact the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.

Tonight, the Government will vote on the sale of Israeli war bonds, the very bonds that are funding the genocide in Palestine and responsible for the dropping of bombs on the people of Palestine. The mealy-mouthed response of the Government last night was absolutely shameful. All said and done, and for all the talk of the Government, it is obstructing legislation that would punish those responsible for genocide. We will have a chance tonight to say genocide, murder, starvation, mass deportation, mass displacement and ethnic cleansing are not in our name. Tonight, everybody in this House will have a chance to be on the right side of history. I urge every Member of the House, in both opposition and government, to be on that side. It is time to do the right thing. The time for talking is over and the time for action is tonight. Everybody with a conscience will vote in favour of the Sinn Féin Bill tonight.

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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We in the Social Democrats are proud to co-sign this motion, and we thank the Labour Party for tabling it. It is when international law is under attack that we need to use these mechanisms most. Day after day since this genocide began, we have watched atrocity after atrocity.

It is difficult not to despair seeing the international system frozen in its tracks. This motion is about using the UN General Assembly to mobilise the international community to act on Gaza. Countries around the world are waiting for each other to take the lead. They are unwilling to stick their necks out for Palestine, unwilling to risk anything to save our shared humanity. We have a responsibility under the genocide convention to protect the Palestinian people from eradication. The Government has often stated, as a rebuttal to Opposition calls for action on Gaza, that there is a need to have an international response but this does not mean waiting for someone else to take the lead, as the Government has done, time and again, over the course of this genocide. We must push the countries of the global north into action and lend our strength to all those nations of the world which have already said that we must stop this genocide and together, we might be able to.

I welcome that the Government will not oppose today's motion and that it is showing willingness to engage with the multilateral system and to use the UN General Assembly, despite expected Security Council resistance. I look forward to that same willingness informing any alteration of the triple lock and a true pursuit of the UN General Assembly as a valid method to satisfy it. Be it on the triple lock or action on Gaza, we cannot have hand wringing on the Security Council and then a refusal to engage with the other mechanisms which are available to us. At every juncture we are pushed back against with cries of, "haven't we done more than most?" when the reality is that we have simply not done enough. I have heard time and again in this Chamber Government Ministers admonish me and others in opposition for asking them to do more to end this genocide, for supposedly politicising this issue. The Tánaiste began his response today by asking us to join together, not to politicise and not to position this as Opposition equals good, Government equals bad. I take huge exception to that narrative because we are not the ones politicising this issue; the Government is. All I am doing is expressing the authentic outrage of the people I represent. Here is my version: genocide equals bad, action equals good - now act. The Government points to the aid we have given, the words we have spoken and how we are doing more than many others and use this as a smokescreen for not passing the occupied territories Bill, for continuing the facilitate the sale of Israeli bonds, and for not stopping the flow of arms through our airspace. I understand that it may be annoying to not get a pat on the back for these things but I will not apologise for pushing us to be better, to fulfil our obligations under the genocide convention and our obligations to all of humanity. I have spoken to so many people in my constituency who are enraged and despairing at the complacency of the spin we have heard from this Government on Ireland's actions. They are angry and simply terrified to see the official line be so disconnected from reality and from the will of the people.

I will conclude with a quote from the writer Omar El Akkad. On 25 October 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, he said "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it is too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this". It is not yet too late to hold people accountable. It is not yet too late to save those still alive in Gaza. I have no interest in pointing to platitudes and what little action we have taken when the Palestinian people ask their friends in Ireland why we did not do all we could.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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There is very little left to say about Gaza that has not already been said and there is almost nothing left in Gaza that has not already been destroyed. We are past the point of shock and statements; what remains is rubble, mass graves and the silence of children whose names we will never know. We welcome this motion and support every line in it but we have to be honest. Ireland, though it has gone further than most because the bar has been set very low, still has not done close to enough. In that delay, tens of thousands have died in hospitals, schools and in their beds and now they are dying in hunger. For months almost no aid has been allowed into Palestine and in all of that time, the solution being offered is one where Palestinians are told that if they want to eat, they must first submit their faces. We have reached a point where facial recognition is being used as a condition for bread, where desperate families are being asked to surrender their biometric data in exchange for rice or flour, data that they know could be used to track, target and erase them. This is not aid; it is not even close. It is surveillance disguised as compassion. I want to say to every humanitarian agency trying to work on the ground and to every international partner watching on in horror that we see what is happening and we will echo their calls. Palestinians deserve food without fear, safety without strings and a world that does not treat their lives as conditional. It is often said by Members on the Government side of the Chamber that nobody here has a monopoly on compassion and I fully accept that. However, it must also be accepted that we do not have the same legislative authority as the Government at this point. The Government said on 5 July 2024 that the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion declaring Israel's occupation illegal was a game changer but that was almost a year ago. Just before the general election, on 5 November at a meeting of the justice committee, the now Taoiseach and then Tánaiste said that advancing the occupied territories Bill would be a priority for the next Government. At Fianna Fáil's manifesto launch in November, the party said it was an urgent commitment and Fine Gael said the same and yet last week we were told that a memo is going to Cabinet and that it may be the autumn before a Bill is finally ready. That is just excuses and cowardice. We all understand that this is difficult but we can simplify it by saying that there is a genocide happening. Members of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael recognised last week that there is a genocide happening. Our obligation under the genocide convention is not just simply to call it out but to prevent it, to do all in our powers and take all of the actions that we can take in response to the calls that have been made throughout this Chamber. We absolutely can be better. If we are recognising genocide, we must prevent it.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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It is really hard to find the right words to say about Gaza now. Week after week, month after month, we have seen the most awful and horrific actions and destruction happening in Gaza and it is just getting worse and worse. To try to reduce it to a three-minute speaking slot is impossible. How can we honour those dead and how can we express our outrage at what is happening on the floor of this Chamber in such a short space of time? What can we say when we see children being murdered indiscriminately, when we see children starving while there is food sitting in trucks a short distance away from them and when we see them crying over the dead bodies of their families and loved ones? When we see them on television now, their eyes just look dead. There is just nothing behind those children's eyes any more because they have seen nothing but horror for over a year. What can we do, here in Ireland, that can really reflect the absolute horrors of what they see and the actions we need to put in place? They are watching their towns, villages, whole families being destroyed. I do not know how anyone, any nation, any country, any people would ever, ever get over that level of destruction and trauma.

Ireland has said a lot more than other countries on this issue and there was a time when words were really important. I want to acknowledge that but there is so much more that we can say and absolutely so much more that we can and should do. My constituents want to see sanctions on Israel. They want to see actual accountability for Israel. My constituents are also the constituents of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and he will be well aware that they want to see action. They want to see Ireland stopping the overflights. They want to see the occupied territories Bill enacted and they want to see that happen very quickly. I welcome the moves we have seen from the Tánaiste in that regard but what I want to see is that Bill passed before recess. I know I speak for my colleagues in the Social Democrats when I say that if that is not possible then we need to use the summer recess to make sure that the Bill is passed and in place by the autumn. We cannot retreat to our constituency offices over the summer period while a genocide is happening in Gaza, when we know we could be in here achieving something that is quite strong in relation to trade and services that would send a message not just to Israel but to all other countries in the world that we all have a responsibility to do something here. We all must do our absolute best.

I hope the Minister of State takes that back to the Tánaiste. We should all work together over the summer recess to make sure that happens as soon as possible.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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People often speculate about what they would have done in Nazi Germany or in the 1930s. The answer is that whatever you are doing now is what you would have done then. The Minister of State is in government and has power. I thank the Labour Party for moving this motion. I do not agree with every word it contains, however. There is no global community. That has been utterly exposed. Imperialism has been laid absolutely bare during this horrific genocide. The only global community is the Palestine solidarity movement and the ordinary people who have taken to the streets for 20 months.

We need to translate words into deeds. Yesterday, I asked the Taoiseach to act unilaterally. We cannot wait for a review by the EU of the EU-Israel association agreement. The EU has exported €53 million in arms to Israel since the genocide began in 2023. It is Israel’s biggest trading partner. The Taoiseach questioned the point of acting alone on the basis that it would not be effective. Action by one can be an example for others.

Ireland also has a huge amount of trade with Israel. Ireland imported the second highest amount of Israeli goods, totalling €3.2 billion, which is a significant amount for our economy. Ireland's exports to Israel totalled €500 million, €97 million of which was dual-use goods that can be used to assist in the genocide against the people of Gaza. That should be stopped. The Government stopped it quick enough for Russia regarding its illegal invasion of Ukraine. In the context of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace, it would be a significant inconvenience if imperialist powers, which are assisting in the genocide in Gaza, could not use, refuel or stop over at Shannon Airport or if the planes landing there were inspected. All of the evidence has been given. I call on the Government to cease all trade with Israel, freeze all Israeli assets in this State, just like it did with Russia, and issue a travel ban against Israeli people in this State and those businesspeople who are assisting the genocide.

The Government could help people medically or provide asylum to the spouses of citizens. For example, I am trying to assist a constituent whose wife, a doctor, stayed on in Nasser Hospital. We saw what happened to one doctor in recent days. Imagine nine of your children being targeted and killed by the Israeli state. The doctor to whom I refer, Dr. Banan Albatta, stayed to help people because of her social obligation.

The Government is delaying and watering down the occupied territories Bill. Let us cut the crap. The Bill has been there since 2019. I remember being in the Dáil at the time and Fianna Fáil coming in talking about the occupied territories Bill. Six years later, it has decided to delay matters when it could have a workable Bill. It is taking away 75% of the effectiveness and strength of that Bill. The time for talk is over. We need action and we need it now.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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Constituents and people across the 32 counties of Ireland are watching on in horror. They depend on us to take action with regard to what is happening in Gaza. There is merciless bombing of hospitals, clinics, homes and tents, with families, children and men being slaughtered. There is forced starvation and famine while convoys of food are a mile or two away. Men and women are being tortured. What the Israelis are doing in the prisons is absolutely shocking. Israel stoops to ever-lower depths of cruelty and inhumanity on a daily basis. Israeli terrorists take potshots at kids, families and women, as well as at donkeys. They kill animals and other targets just for fun each day. All of those in the Israeli Government and the military command need to be designated as war criminals and terrorists.

I listened to lectures about terrorism for years. This is terrorism on a scale we have never seen before. This country is now the home for the selling of war bonds that assist Israel in carrying out the genocide. No assistance should be given to the terrorist State of Israel. It is inconceivable to assist Israel at a time when its forces are engaged in terrorism, genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and when there is slaughter on a daily basis. The Israeli Government needs to sell its war bonds. It is a huge part of its expenditure that is then spent on bombs, rockets and funding illegal settlements. It is funding war and terror. It is blood money. Excuses about not being able to do it need to be pushed to one side. The Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers has advised that this can be done.

I commend the Labour Party on putting forward this motion, but we need to go much further. We need to: pass the occupied territories Bill and include services and goods in it; stop the use of Shannon Airport and stop overflights for the transportation of weapons to Israel; continue to press for the suspension of Israeli-EU trade agreements; and join with other states to call for an emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly at which Ireland would table a resolution, as set out in the motion, to call for collective measures to enable the development of a lasting ceasefire and a sustainable peace agreement, the putting in place of an international peacekeeping force to protect Palestinians and the commencement of negotiations for a two-state solution for the sovereign State of Palestine to be recognised. Please act. No more words. We need action.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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The gap between the words and the actions of the Government on Palestine grows ever bigger because the words get stronger but the Government refuses to act. What happens in debates like this or the one last night is that the Government comes in and effectively complains that it is not congratulated for not being as complicit in the genocide as the states that are literally funding it and arming Israel. This is simply not good enough. The people outside and those who will gather later do not think it is good enough, nor does the average person on the street. People are appalled at the genocide that is being inflicted on the innocent men, women and children in Gaza. We remember our history of occupation and forced starvation. We know the victims in all of this are not the settler colonists of Israel but, rather, the oppressed people of occupied Palestine. They have every right to defend themselves like we did.

While the courage and perseverance of the people of Gaza over the past year and a half has been incredible, the sheer weight of arms and military and political support given to Israel by the US and the European Union is fuelling a genocide that they cannot stop on their own. The only thing that can stop this genocide now is decisive international action. The only way that will happen is through people power, international solidarity and resistance. We cannot rely on the same governments and institutions that have armed and financed Israel, continued to trade with Israel and turned a blind eye to the transit of weapons to Israel. Governments in the west have valued the lives of Palestinian children at a fraction of those of Israeli children. The Palestinian solidarity movement in Ireland and around the world has not.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has been relentless. We have seen it on our screens. So too has been the opposition to the genocide, however. On May Day, three protesters from Palestine Action Éire got onto the runway at Shannon Airport, rightly taking action where our Government refuses to in attempting to intercept a US military aircraft on its way to support the genocide. They are now facing criminal charges and a trial in July. They should be applauded, not criminalised. They are just one of the examples of the oppression being meted out against Palestinian protestors. Other examples include protestors from Mothers Against Genocide being arrested, strip searched and called liars by An Garda Síochána and the Minister for Justice, Deputy O’Callaghan, and Kneecap facing terrorism charges for speaking out against the genocide. Governments are trying to suppress the Palestine solidarity movements because they know we have the weight of public opinion behind us. That is forcing them to act. Without the movement, there would be no talk of the occupied territories Bill, even in its delayed, watered-down form, or of sanctions against Israel. The Government would have done less than nothing if it had not been under constant pressure to act.

What it has done so far is nowhere near good enough. We need to ban the Israeli bonds, stop financing a genocide through the Irish Central Bank, stop the overflights and stop sitting on the draft report the Government has had since March. When is it going to publish that report and act on it, with full sanctions against the State of Israel?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Tacaím leis an rún seo agus molaim Páirtí an Lucht Oibre as ucht an rún seo a chur faoi bhráid na Dála. I thank the Labour Party for bringing this motion before the Dáil. It needs to be supported across the Chamber. The clock is ticking towards famine in Gaza. Those are the words of the head of the UN agency for Palestine. This is no natural famine or natural disaster; it is a man-made famine designed to clear Gaza of Palestinians. The term "man-made famine" resonates in Ireland more than in any other country in the world. In Ireland, we lost over 1 million people to a man-made famine. They were starved to death in horrendous circumstances. We lost well over 1 million people to emigration because of man-made famine. Families were ripped from their communities and their loved ones and forced to emigrate to other countries. In 1847, we saw famine used as a tool of ethnic cleansing in this country. The term "man-made famine" resonates at a far deeper and more visceral level here in Ireland than in any other country. The Times of London stated at the time that Irish people would be as rare as Indians in Manhattan as a result of the ethnic cleansing that was happening. The darkness of that famine even today throws a shadow over this country. Ireland is one of the few counties in the world where the population is still less than it was in the 1840s.

Famine as a weapon of war is a war crime. As a result of our experience, this demands a response from us that is far stronger, far more real and far more effective than the response of the Government so far. It demands that we cannot sit on our hands or just use words in relation to this particular crisis. It demands that we use every tool we have to make sure there is change and that pressure is brought on Israel regarding what it is doing at the moment.

The Israeli Government has murdered 53,000 people. Hamas has murdered 1,700 people. Hamas is a terrorist organisation and it must release all the hostages. However, Benjamin Netanyahu has murdered 51 times the number of people that a terrorist organisation has murdered. Every life is sacred. We in Aontú believe that absolutely. The idea of a state murdering 51 times the number of people a terrorist organisation has murdered is absolutely shocking. I never imagined that I would see such death and destruction, that I would see Israeli bombs landing on tents, schools and hospitals, atomising the bodies of children. I never thought that I would see a horrendous abuse of human rights such as that we are seeing at the moment. Some 70% of people who are being killed in Gaza are women and children. This figure is even higher if all the non-combatants are included. I am a student of history. I can never get my head around the fact that we see such horrendous situations in history, yet we see society go on as normal, as though nothing has happened. The proportionate response from society is never what it should be. War crimes seem to be only understood in the past tense, not the present tense.

It was stated earlier that one day everybody will have opposed the murder of civilians in Gaza. That is an incredibly strong sentence. The problem is that if war crimes and murder are only understood in the past tense, this means we can never act in the present tense in order to stop them. That is what is demanded of this country now.

One of the problems we have is that the EU and the United States have underwritten the actions of Israel. As a result, they have allowed this to happen. The EU's response has been anaemic at best. Ursula von der Leyen strode the world stage at the start of this crisis saying that she gave full support to Israel in its time of need. Ursula von der Leyen distorted the foreign policy views of the Irish people at an international level. That is one of the reasons why it is wrong that we outsource so much of our foreign policy to the EU in regard to this matter. We need a situation where this country starts to use every tool. We in Aontú want the Government to make sure that the occupied territories Bill is implemented as soon as possible.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)
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What everybody has said has been repetitive. Everyone is on the same page. I believe the Minister of State is also on the same page and would like to see what we can do. Can the Minister of State imagine if anyone in this House had to go hungry? We can walk out the door, go into a canteen and eat. Imagine he was here, looking at the food, while starving, knowing that his brothers, sisters, mother and father are dying around him. That is where the genocide comes into it. Nobody in this Chamber has been untouched by this. I am not targeting the Minister of State.

We said throughout the pandemic that things could not be changed because the legislation said so, but we managed to change it and things changed. We were able to get things done. There has to be a way for us to change things, stand up and show the world that Ireland, in its integrity, is not standing for this. The EU is lacking. The Government is worried about sanctions being taken against us if we stand up. Something has to be done, however.

As a parent, a grandparent and a brother, I am of the view that have to make sure we stand up for people. We have to find the one thing that might show leadership to other countries. If it means going hungry for a week, maybe we need to do that in order that people realise what is happening. It is genocide. We see in our history books that 1 million people died here in the 1800s. People were displaced. The scars from that still survive, carried on over generations. What will the scars for this generation in Palestine be like? Israel is trying to take the people of Gaza out of existence. Nobody has a right to take away anyone's existence.

Anything we can do to make a change, we must do. The one thing we need is to be united in this Chamber to make sure we make a change. We need to find a solution and go outside whatever regulatory body the Minister of State is trying to protect. We need to give leadership and show people in Ireland that we are willing to stand up and say that enough is enough. The Minister of State would like to do that. He would like to find a way forward in order to do it. All Members would stand with the Minister of State if he found a solution. We need to make sure that we stand up. We need to show that we do not stand for women, children and people being bombed in hospitals. We stand with the people of Gaza.

Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
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Ireland's voice is neutral, trusted and morally urgent. Our neutrality is not passive; it is active, credible and principled. We are here to protect life and dignity without taking sides. Ireland is trusted because we do not serve geopolitical interests. Starvation as a weapon is a breach of international law. Deliberate denial of food and aid is collective punishment. It is a war crime we know from our history during the Great Famine and from the oppression visited on us, the Irish, by others. There is a devastating impact from such actions.

I want to mention a group that last week brought the Australian ambassador to Dunmanway to celebrate the anniversary of 14 people who were forced to leave Dunmanway and go to Australia under a programme during the Famine. I thank Ms Michelle O'Mahony and the Australian ambassador for coming to what was a great celebration that I attended last Saturday in Dunmanway.

I also had a constituent remind me that, since 2000, extremist groups such as Boko Haram, ISWAP and Fulani militias had slaughtered 62,000 Nigerian Christians in a genocide shrouded in silence. This atrocity is known as the "silent slaughter" throughout Africa. Ireland stands firm in its commitment to justice and human rights for the people in Gaza but let us not forget the rest of the world. We must ensure our voice is heard in advocating for all victims of injustice regardless of where they are from.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The 7 October terror attacks on Israel are to be condemned outright but the eye-for-an-eye approach adopted by the Israeli state since has been indefensible. The bombing of hospitals, schools and tents and the killing of children and babies, including newborn babies in hospitals, is reprehensible. It is the worst we have seen in our lifetime. What is happening is not a war anymore; it is ethnic cleansing, genocide and, more recently, the weaponising of food. The British army was a bad actor on this island for many centuries but even in the worst of days, when its cities were being bombed by the terror organisations of the IRA, it never retaliated by bombing and shooting the civilian population of Ireland.

It is important that the European Union move more in step. The European bloc was very quickly able to combine and impose sanctions on the Putin regime following the declaration of war on Ukraine but there does not seem to be that same unanimity when it comes to Gaza. Ireland is doing a lot but the European bloc can do an awful lot more. I am delighted that the occupied territories Bill will finally be enacted. The progression of that needs to be swift. It needs to include services. However, while it is important, it is a small quantity of goods and services in the overall scheme of trade in the European Union. What is really needed is that we have sanctions on Israel by the European bloc of nations, not just a stand-alone occupied territories Bill adopted here in Ireland.

Others have spoken of this. I, too, studied history in college. The Israeli people have a very tragic history of their own. Looking at the CVs of several Cabinet ministers, they are children of survivors of the Holocaust. They should understand better than anyone what genocide, the loss of life, the weaponising of food and the killing of children involve. They do not. What is happening at the moment is disgusting. It is the genocide of our time. While the Irish Government is doing a lot, the European Union can do an awful lot more. I ask the Minister of State to take that message from this House to Europe that we need to move en bloc and it needs to be in the realm of sanctions next time, not just debates in the chamber.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I speak with a heavy heart as we witness the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the slaughter of innocent civilians caught up in the crossfire of a brutal and unrelenting conflict. This suffering demands not only our sympathy, but our swift action.

Ireland has a proud tradition of neutrality, of standing actively for peace and international law and for the protection of human dignity. That tradition must guide us now. We must call unequivocally for an immediate and sustained ceasefire. The violence must end. We must support the deployment and protection of neutral UN peacekeeping forces to protect civilians and ensure humanitarian aid reaches those who most need it. Our neutrality is not passive; it is principled and always has been. It gives us the moral authority to be a voice for peace on the international stage. We must use it and use it strongly.

Humanitarian aid must flow unimpeded. Medical supplies, food and clean water are not luxuries - they are rights. Ireland must press for safe humanitarian corridors. A ceasefire is the first step but peace will only come through justice, accountability and respect for international law on all sides. Let us be clear that Ireland stands for peace, neutrality and the protection of life.

There are other parts of the world where there is massive slaughter of Christians going on on a daily, if not hourly, basis. The world’s leaders and media seem to turn a blind eye to it. That is reprehensible and totally unacceptable. I will travel in August to meet the International Catholic Legislators Network, ICLN. We debate that each year. There will be parliamentarians from many of the countries affected by this savagery and brutality. It is extensive and we must be a voice against that also.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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It is deeply harrowing to witness the devastation unfolding in Gaza, as every Deputy has said. As we speak infants are starving. Families are without clean water or basic medical supplies. According to the WHO, nine out of ten people in Gaza now face crisis-level hunger. I have heard Deputies across the Chamber refer to the Great Famine but it is actually the great genocide that our people faced when we had grass stains on our mouths and when lies upon lies were put on what was being inflicted on our nation. This is not a failure of logistics that is occurring in front of us. It is deliberate denial of humanitarian relief. The destruction we are seeing is not collateral damage. It is a systematic obliteration of civilian infrastructure - homes, schools and hospitals. As Deputy Tóibín said, over 53,000 people have been killed, the majority women and children. The United Nations has warned of the war crimes. We know these are war crimes. Netanyahu is a war criminal. Human Rights Watch has stated bluntly that starvation is being used as a weapon of war. This is a reality. This is not just a humanitarian catastrophe. It is an attempt to forcibly remove the Palestinian population from Gaza.

It is illogical what is occurring among us but there is a shift occurring across EU states. We saw what occurred in the House of Commons yesterday. Ireland has been a moral voice before. In the 1980s, we stood firm against the apartheid state of South Africa, started by the Dunnes workers. We were not silent and we must not be silent now.

The only way to ensure the urgent flow of aid into Gaza is for us to apply maximum pressure on the Israeli Government diplomatically, economically and politically. Words are no longer enough. Ireland must lead the growing bloc of EU countries that is shifting and calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement. Article 2 of that agreement clearly states that respect for human rights is an essential element of the partnership. That is something we are not seeing. The clause means nothing if it is not enforced. We must also speak frankly to the hold-out member states who continue to block action. History will judge them and us, and it will not judge any of us kindly.

I am not directing this at the Minister of State but at the war criminal government that Netanyahu has created. We owe it to the people of Gaza, the principles of international law and our own conscience as a nation that once knew oppression to act now and deliver.

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I want to put on record my horror at the actions of Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. It has been a totally disproportionate reaction to the 7 October attacks. Those were despicable but the killing of 54,000 people and deliberately targeting by hunger and total war a whole population of people is inexplicable and unforgivable.

We have to use our best influence through the European Union because this dial will not shift until the big countries of Europe and the United States force Israel to change this course of action. Ireland has been to the fore by bringing the Israeli Government to the International Court of Justice, recognising the State of Palestine and also advocating within Europe for a change in trade policy. It appears there is a shift of opinion in Europe and now Germany itself is questioning the strategy of this war. It has a particular psychological issue relating to its support for Israel, which was blind until now. We need to push that opening and force Europe to take action against Israel as a collective. We cannot have the stain of genocide on our side without speaking out. While Ireland has done its bit, it needs to do more through that bigger bloc of the European Union. I implore the Minister of State to use all of our influence to bring change to this war and change Israel’s course of action against the Palestinian people.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank everybody for contributing today. All of their contributions have been genuinely heartfelt and reflect the established opinion in Ireland for quite some time, which is the opinion of the Irish Government, too.

It is a year ago to the day that the Government took a very important decision to recognise the State of Palestine. The decision was taken in the spirit of peace, in the spirit of keeping hope alive and in the spirit of believing - we have always believed this and were the first county to propose it - that a two-state solution is the only way for Israel and Palestine to live side by side in peace and security.

As outlined by Deputies across the political spectrum, Government and Opposition, over the course of the debate, the situation is one of horror. It is tragic and unacceptable for the people of Gaza and the West Bank and it has deteriorated considerably since we recognised Palestine. The House is united in our collective outrage at the scenes we continue to witness every single day of innocent civilians being bombed out of their homes, of children starving and of people fleeing their homes time after time.

On behalf of the Government, I thank the Labour Party for tabling this motion today. Every Deputy has spoken sincerely. As I said last week, the Opposition is entitled to criticise, call for more or say we have not done enough, but there is sincerity on behalf of the Government and its backbenchers, and sincerity and genuineness in the leadership Ireland has shown on the international stage on this issue. We are united on the fundamental view of the conflict. We all unequivocally condemn the terror attacks by Hamas and other terrorist organisations against Israel on 7 October 2023. We unequivocally condemn the taking of hostages and we have consistently called, and still call today, for the release of all hostages. Let us be clear that Hamas is not the future for the Palestinian people. It offers no future.

We have consistently called for all parties to return to talks aimed at immediately agreeing a ceasefire and hostage release deal. We have called for a massive, unimpeded scale-up of humanitarian aid into and throughout Gaza in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles. The Taoiseach has been one of the strongest voices on the global political stage on this matter. The UN and other humanitarian organisations must be enabled to work independently and to do their job. We reject proposals to distribute aid that do not conform with humanitarian principles or that undermine the UN or other humanitarian partners. Ireland has, both bilaterally and multilaterally, including yesterday while I was at the General Affairs Council, called on Israel to comply with international law while stressing the universal applicability of international law, including humanitarian law, and the Government fully concurs with the sentiment of the Labour Party’s motion in this regard. We will double down on our calls. We will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to hold Israel to account.

It is for these reasons the Government is not opposing the motion. The motion raises issues that are already being addressed by existing initiatives at United Nations level, including by Ireland. Indeed, some of the initiatives are taking place within the framework of the uniting for peace Resolution 377. For example, there is already an emergency special session dedicated to the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. This is the tenth emergency special session, which was established in 1997 under the uniting for peace resolution, the same one to which the motion refers. At the resumed tenth emergency session in October 2023, Ireland was among the first countries in the world to call for a ceasefire. Our leadership contributed to momentum towards the eventual call by the General Assembly for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in a resolution adopted by an overwhelming majority in December 2023. At the resumed session in May 2024, shortly before we, along with Spain and Norway, recognised the State of Palestine, Ireland strongly supported a resolution to upgrade Palestine’s rights at the UN as an observer state. Ireland urged the Security Council to give favourable consideration to Palestine’s request for full membership.

This Government and our diplomats, on behalf of all of us, are currently playing a leading role in the preparations for the UN high-level international conference for the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of a two-state solution. This includes the Government supporting the conference co-chairs, France and Saudi Arabia, by acting as co-chair, with Türkiye, of one of eight working groups at the conference. The overall aim of the conference is to forge a pathway towards a sustainable peace in a comprehensive manner. This will be an important moment for the international community to come together, demonstrate the political will to implement the two-state solution and bring an end to the current cycle of violence. Our focus is on preparations for the conference, as is the focus of Palestine at the moment and like-minded partners.

We are also working in other international forums on initiatives aimed at addressing the situation in the Middle East, including through the international courts. In this regard, Ireland filed a declaration of intervention at the International Court of Justice in South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention in January.

We know that the policies of the Israeli Government, and nobody else, have led to a looming famine in Gaza. We have witnessed innumerable breaches of international law and international humanitarian law and we have called them out. We respect the authority of the ICJ on the matter and await the outcome of the South African case.

We are using all of the diplomatic channels available to us in response to the situation in Palestine. As has been mentioned, last week, a majority of EU foreign ministers - not all, but enough - called on the EU to conduct a review of the EU-Israel association agreement. This is important because it reflects the grave concerns held by member states regarding the ongoing war by Israel, the blockade of humanitarian aid entering Gaza and the horror at seeing this. Ireland, together with Spain, called for this last year when the then Taoiseach and the Spanish Prime Minister wrote to the President of the European Commission requesting an urgent review of whether Israel was complying with its human rights obligations. At the time, we were the only ones. Last Tuesday, a clear majority of member states voiced their support for such a review. To Deputy Heneghan, who stated that this was what we should be doing, this is a strong example of what we have been doing in various forums at various levels. We have been clear-eyed in our assessment of the facts and regarding our objectives. It speaks for itself that steps being taken now by Ireland and international partners were proposed by Ireland months ago. That includes the recognition of the State of Palestine on which other countries have followed suit. There may be others to come.

Ireland unequivocally supports the right of the State of Israel to exist. From what I am seeing in its media, certainly not all of the Israeli people support what is happening. There are many who are extremely critical within Israeli society. We have also unequivocally supported the right of the State of Palestine to exist. This was not always the norm. We want the Palestinian people to have peaceful self-determination. Some 12 months after Ireland recognised the State of Palestine, we see the question of recognition again at the centre of the international debate. Malta is going to do it and others may as well. Despite our small size, Ireland has not been afraid to speak out loudly or to take action. Deputies O'Donoghue and McGrath mentioned other conflicts. People are killed in the six figures in Sudan and Ireland has been really strong on that as well in terms of humanitarian aid and on using diplomatic initiatives. We are not afraid to take action on these global issues that we are appalled by.

We are leading the way in terms of domestic legislation. The Government has agreed to bring forward the occupied territories Bill, which is coming, and it will work with Members across the House as the Bill advances to pre-legislative scrutiny stage in the coming weeks. The horrific scenes we continue to see cut across politics, including party politics. The world is appalled by what it is seeing. The House is united in its desire to find a lasting political solution. The world does see that the Irish Government is one of the strongest supporters in the western world of the people of Palestine, of the State of Palestine and of the two-state solution. That is simply a fact. I have no problem with the Opposition telling us we need to do more but I reject the idea, which I heard once here today, that somehow the Government is complicit in this. It is not the case. There were media reports only last month that Benjamin Netanyahu did not fly over Irish airspace because he feared arrest. Among the biggest critics of the Irish Government's response to this has been the Israeli Government. The ambassador was recalled after we recognised the State of Palestine. While there will always be politics in Dáil Éireann, we are doing a huge amount. We will absolutely continue to take pressure from the Opposition and all of that but I am proud of the work the Government has done.

We want Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace and security through the two-state solution. To put it bluntly, we need peace, we need food, we need humanitarian assistance and we need to see the war end. We need to see urgent humanitarian aid at scale into and throughout Gaza and we need to see the release of all hostages. We need to see a pathway to a political process that can lead to a solution to the conflict that has gone on too long and for which the people are paying too high a price. Ireland will continue to use all the political, legal, diplomatic and humanitarian tools at our disposal towards these goals. The Irish people support these goals.

I again thank the Labour Party for tabling the motion. I look forward to continued co-operation between the Government and Deputies as we strive to secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Last month, my wife and I welcomed a new baby into our lives. It has been just so joyous, spending the first few weeks of a child's life together as a family, getting to know our new baby and seeing them grow and develop a little personality. It was a precious time. I returned to work here after a few weeks of parental leave. Last week I attended a briefing by the Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine, which outlined in absolutely heart wrenching detail the extent of the war on children and healthcare workers that Israel is conducting. It has been a very strange juxtaposition - a disturbing and devastating one. Looking at my new son, this beautiful and fragile new life, I then see images of babies just like him in Gaza starving, malnourished, mutilated and, in too many cases, dead. I look at my son and cannot even begin to imagine the pain the parents of those Palestinian babies must feel and their anguish and constant despair. Quite frankly, I would not want to imagine it. It is not a pain that any parent or any human being should have to feel.

As legislators, we need to see what is happening in Gaza but the horrors are so obscene and frequent that it is difficult not to scroll past them when they come up on one's social media feed. We have to keep watching. We have to continue to let it devastate us from afar. We have to continue to let it drive us to do more and to conclusively and sustainably end the genocide. No parent should have to live in constant fear a bomb will suddenly drop on their new baby's head. No parent should have to watch his or her child be starved to death.

Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war and of its genocide on the people of Gaza. The blocking of aid into Gaza and the rhetoric we have been hearing over the past number of weeks from Netanyahu and his government have made their intentions clear if they were not already obvious. They have dropped any pretence that their war on Gaza and on the Palestinian people is one of defence and that it is about Israel's security. It has always been about eliminating the Palestinian people and colonising their land. Now the Israeli Government is saying the quiet part out loud. It is talking about a full occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and about ethnic cleansing. It has killed upwards of 55,000 people, including more than 15,000 children. That is a full classroom of children every day. It is genocide. Virtually all scholars on the issue are now in agreement.

There can be no more excuses for delaying the passage of the occupied territories Bill - goods and services included. Last week, I co-signed a letter along with hundreds of other Irish lawyers, confirming there is no legal impediment to that. I hope those experts are invited to appear before the foreign affairs committee so that the Tánaiste's stated issues with the legality of the services aspect of that Bill are set aside and that he and the Government can get fully behind it. We can have no more excuses for continuing to allow weapons to be transported to Israel through our airspace or for the sale of Israeli war bonds by the Central Bank. We need to see the Government use every lever at its disposal to pressure the international community to act. This motion provides for one of those levers.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I wish to talk in particular about the issue of military flights using Shannon Airport and flying over our airspace. It is something I and others are very concerned about because successive Irish Governments have long claimed the defence of plausible deniability in relation to this. To say we did not know because we did not ask is no longer acceptable. We have already had the Irish Government facilitating the landing of US military flights on Irish soil and some of these military flights have been facilitating the destruction of Gaza and the elimination of the Palestinian people. By allowing military planes to land in Shannon Airport on their way to aid the atrocities in Gaza we are complicit and we are profiting from war crimes.

Ireland has been very strong on this issue but strong words must be supported by strong, consistent actions and we must control what we can control and we can control who uses our airspace and lands in our airports. Planes have landed in Shannon Airport that frankly should not have. A new inspection regime was meant to have been introduced to deal with this. Why is the Department of Transport still examining this legislation?

For example, it was reported in The Ditch that a cargo plane that regularly brings tonnes to weapons to Israel touched down in Shannon Airport as recently as March of this year when on its way to Tel Aviv. The same outlet also reported that the same airline, Silk Way Airlines, illegally transported munitions to Israel through Irish territory. This is illegal. We need transparency and accountability here. This is something we can control. We need a solid, transparent and consistent inspection method to be implemented immediately. The fact is that the Government is doing nothing about this. It is not checking so therefore it is not finding. This is completely unacceptable. We cannot stay silent about Shannon Airport when our country and our State's strategic assets are being used to facilitate this. This goes against everything we have ever stood for.

That is why we must act. Act to stop the illegal use of Shannon Airport and act to seek a UN peacekeeping force to act as a literal barrier between the Palestinian people and their annihilation and extermination because this is a moment in history like Darfur, like Rwanda and like what the international community has been much better at calling out in Ukraine. This is a defining moment; a moment that will sear our very souls. What sort of a society are we if we gloss over and scroll past the hollowed out faces and lifeless eyes of the Palestinian children? If this really is, as the Tánaiste says "evil beyond words", we need to do more.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Israel is perpetrating a genocide; a genocide upon the people of Gaza. This motion recognises that. As we watch in horror the new atrocities being committed upon Palestinian civilians each day, there are more children and babies killed and injured and starving before our eyes and families being wiped out like the family of Dr. Alaa al-Najjar. We must do more and we can and must show leadership.

One year ago today, Ireland showed leadership in recognising the State of Palestine. That was hugely welcome and this Labour Party motion is our constructive proposal for Ireland to show leadership again on the world stage at UN level. I thank all of those parties across the Opposition which have co-signed this motion. I commend Deputy Duncan Smith, our foreign affairs spokesperson, on bring forward the motion. I thank the Government parties for not opposing this motion. That shows the common resolve in this House to use every lever available to us and to take every practical step we can to stop the slaughter in Gaza.

Yes, the motion proposes a bold proposal, a big ask. Yes, we know there are processes under way at UN level. The Tánaiste outlined those earlier. We know there is a high-level conference on Palestine and the two-state solution due to take place next month and that is welcome. It is welcome to see Ireland take a leading role in that. However, these processes are moving too slowly and just because these processes are under way does not mean we cannot do more to alleviate the horrific suffering of the children in Gaza. We can and we must do more.

This motion is significant. It is significant that across the House we have now agreed the Israeli Government is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. Those are powerful words in this motion. It is significant that those who signed this motion have condemned the brutal attacks by Hamas and called again for the unconditional release of all hostages. It is hugely significant that all of us who signed this motion, and we who proposed it, are mandating the Government to table a resolution before the UN General Assembly to note the failure of the UN Security Council and call for collective measures to enable development of a lasting ceasefire, a sustainable peace agreement and the creation of an international peacekeeping force for Gaza. That is what children, families and civilians in Gaza need now. We welcome the Government's non-opposition to this motion and I very much welcome the Tánaiste's strong words earlier, that he will "work constructively with the Labour Party and others ... [to] advance this motion."

However, we need more than words. We need to see action from Government on how and when this motion will be advanced. I ask the Minister of State and I will ask the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach - and I will repeatedly ask - how and when will this motion be implemented? When will a motion be brought before the UN General Assembly to bring about a sustainable peace in Gaza and to bring about the creation of an international peacekeeping force to ensure aid is delivered to the starving children and babies in Gaza?

I see the Taoiseach is present and again I call upon him and his Government to do as the Tánaiste has committed to do and to work with us across the House constructively to advance this motion and ensure that Ireland, once again, plays a leadership role on the world stage to end the suffering of the people of Gaza and to end this genocide.