Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

Yesterday morning, Irish citizens were kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli navy. Turkish citizens were also killed by the Israeli navy on a boat carrying aid to Gaza.

Citizens of Palestine have been denied the basics in life to live by the blockade imposed by the Israeli army. John Ging, an Irishman, former captain in the Irish Army and the head of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, in Gaza has described the situation there as subhuman. Up to 1.5 million people live in Gaza, a piece of land the size of County Louth, of whom 80% rely on John Ging and the UN for their very survival.

I, along with my Fianna Fáil colleague, Deputy Chris Andrews, and Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh, were due to be on board the Turkish ship that was attacked by the Israeli navy. We were prevented from leaving Cyprus on Friday and Saturday by the Cypriot authorities. They stated it was against Cyprus's strategic interests in the region to assist us, and other parliamentarians from Sweden, Bulgaria, Russia, Italy, Greece and Cyprus, joining the flotilla that was going to bring much needed food and aid to Gaza.

A number of falsehoods about the convoy have been disseminated by the Israeli Government. It tried to put out the story that its forces were attacked——