Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for setting out the order for today.

At the outset, it would be appropriate that this House would condemn unreservedly the actions of Hamas on Saturday morning. The indiscriminate attacks on civilians, regardless of where they reside, is an abhorrence and should be condemned with the greatest ferocity by every parliament in the democratic world. Of course there are issues in the Middle East that predate this issue. That is a context that we should not be blind to, but nobody with a right mind would believe that the actions of Hamas will in any way advance the case of the Palestinian people, a people that we hold very dear to us in this country. We have shared and share many similar situations and issues, but none as traumatic as they have gone through. We now have a situation where the Israeli people have a right to defend themselves and the integrity of their people but we hope and must insist that it is a proportionate response.I am always reminded when I hear terms such as "the rules of engagement" and "the rules of war", that war is an abhorrence to most right-minded people. It should never be part of their lives but sadly for some on this Earth it is. We have a responsibility as a country that is not militarily aligned to use our strong voice at European level to ensure the continued provision of humanitarian aid and general aid to maintain the Palestinian Authority and provide assistance to the Palestinian people. There was some scoffing during the Tánaiste's recent visit to the region when he clearly set out his views, which are the views of most right-minded people in this country and I hope on a wider scale. They are that we need to get back around the table to a situation where discussions and negotiations take place around a two-state solution. That is the only solution. Let us not be in any way misguided. The actions of Hamas differ greatly from that. The only aim Hamas has is to wipe the Israeli State and the Jewish people into oblivion. That will not happen. It will not be allowed to happen. By the same token, the dreadful situations in which Palestinian people find themselves are not acceptable either. Sadly, these actions show - Hamas is acting as a proxy for Iran - that it cares nothing about the men, women and civilian children of the Gaza strip or the West Bank. I ask the Leader if it would be possible to organise a debate in this House next week so that we can have a full and frank discussion about this issue. As the budget is in play this week, we could push it back to then.