Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to begin by joining with others in offering my condolences and those of my party to the family of Mr. John Connor.

The restoration of the Executive and Assembly is very good news for all of the people of Ireland. It allows for the full operation of the Good Friday Agreement and all its interlocking institutions, especially the all-island North-South institutions. It is an opportunity for Ms Michelle O'Neill to fulfil her promise to be a First Minister for all the people of the North. It will provide hands-on leadership from all of the parties to help the people of the North to deal with the day-to-day challenges facing them, including the rising cost of living, the underpayment of public service workers and the under-funding of those services. It will assist reconciliation between the people of the North and across this island and will provide opportunities for those advocates of constitutional change. I want to put on record our welcome for that announcement and hopefully everything will go well over the next week.

Last week, along with the Acting Leader, I took part in a debate in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Palestine. It was, without doubt, one of the most depressing moments, to be in that assembly as we saw an attempt to call for a ceasefire undermined by the far right. Unfortunately, politicians from almost all groups rallied around the far right call to block the calls for a ceasefire. It was appalling to witness that happening.

The International Court of Justice ruling is extremely welcome. It makes it clear that Israel has been ordered to prevent genocide. The court made an extremely powerful call but what happened afterwards is really telling. The allies of Israel, including the USA, Britain, Germany and Italy, immediately moved, in a very co-ordinated way, to undermine the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA. Ten countries have now withdrawn funding from UNRWA on the basis of allegations, without evidence, against 12 employees out of a total of 30,000. The work of UNRWA enables the people of Palestine to survive and stay in Palestine. We are witnessing an attempt by various countries to undermine the ruling of the ICJ and the evidence given in that court, which is despicable. The fact of the matter is that one in four Palestinians is currently at risk of starvation and that is only going to increase.What does that tell us about the actions of these countries? They are effectively condemning the Palestinian people to starvation or else forcing them to leave their country, which is of course the real aim behind all of this. Indeed, if one looks at Netanyahu's statements, he has been very clear about that. He wants the Palestinians gone from Palestine.

The situation continues to get worse. We urgently need to see action. I call on the Irish Government to join the case with South Africa at the International Court of Justice. There is no excuse at this point for not doing so. We need to do more, we must do more and I call for an urgent debate on this issue.