Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A Robert Burns poem from 1784 reads:

Man's inhumanity to man,

Makes countless thousands mourn.

Today, in 2023, it is deeply disturbing and depressing to think that we are talking about such real-time and immediate inhumanity of man to man. This inhumanity and these atrocities have convulsed the Middle East and revulsed those of us in the West who value human life and basic human rights. I thank the Minister of State for being here. This House offers its deepest condolences and sympathies to the ordinary people of Palestine and Israel. I believe the Seanad unanimously and unequivocally condemns the atrocities that have been and are being committed in Palestine and Israel. Ireland has a unique voice in the international community. We are a very small county but we have a unique history. The international community must take really decisive action to assert and protect human rights, to absolutely condemn the war crimes that have been committed and to seek independent investigation and effective prosecution of all crimes that have been committed.I commend the announcement by the Tánaiste and the Government regarding the provision of additional humanitarian aid, but we must use our strength as a country and our place in the international context to ensure that every power and resource to obtain a ceasefire, ensure that humanitarian aid is provided and establish some semblance of peace so that there can be respect for diversity and a basis from which a two-state solution can be pursued.

I thank the Minister of State for his time and urge him and the Government to keep up the work and the pressure for the ordinary people of Palestine and Israel.