Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo the comments of my colleagues in wishing Tom Hickey a very happy retirement. I thank him for his professionalism and courtesy. I also thank all the Seanad staff and everyone who makes this House function. Extraordinary work goes on behind the scenes.

I came in today to pay tribute to the work of Sam and Odette Doran and to celebrate the opening to the public of the interim remediation scheme through the Housing Agency's website, housingagency.ie, last Monday. That scheme is to assist all of those who have been affected by apartment defects and to give them interim funding. I have been championing this for three years now and I was delighted when we managed to meet up with Sam and Odette last weekend in anticipation of what was coming on Monday. That was fantastic.

I came in to pay a larger tribute to them than that but I cannot end the year and not say that, at one point in my life, I did a lot of study of the Shoah, the Jewish name for the Holocaust. I also carried out a lot of counselling and training of community leaders in Rwanda, who were trying to cope with trauma after the genocide and what it meant for the generations to come. I worked in the parish of Shyogwe in Rwanda for some time. The pictures of naked men being lined up that Senator McDowell has mentioned echo everything I saw in my studies of the Shoah and in the horrific photographs and testimonies of those who witnessed what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust. I always begin with empathy and see everything through that lens as regards how Israel conducts itself, while I might be appalled by it. There is no question that there will have to come a time when Hamas is held to account but, by God, what is happening in Palestine and in Gaza at the moment is horrific. I am very proud of our Taoiseach's stand and the leadership our country is showing in this regard, despite Israel's very personal admonishments of the Taoiseach. I am very glad of that. I stand with Palestine and Gaza today. Peace and goodwill are not evident. What is happening is horrific. Let us name it for what it is. It looks like a genocide. It has all the hallmarks of one. I have seen them and there is a tragedy to come for the Jewish people as a consequence, which is also horrific. It needs to stop. We need a ceasefire now.