Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my Civil Engagement Group colleagues for using their Private Members' time to debate such an important issue. We had statements yesterday as well. Many colleagues contributed to the topic yesterday and made their views known.

Fianna Fáil welcomes this debate. It is important that we, here in the Seanad, with our Ministers continue to make sure that this issue is top of the agenda. It is rare that an international foreign affairs issue grasps the hearts and minds of the Irish people. It does not happen too often but this is one of them. The message has been received loud and clear, not only from all of those who emailed us because of today's motion but from all of those citizens who have been in contact since 7 October, and even before that. This is not a new issue but I suppose it entered a different phase, if I can put it that way, following 7 October. We have been engaging a lot with people across the country ever since then on what has been happening in Palestine and to the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza.

I acknowledge, and it has been fairly acknowledged by Opposition Members, that Ireland was quick to call for an immediate ceasefire. There was no equivocation. There were no grey areas. The call was for a ceasefire now. We have continued to use our voice and our mandate on the international stage, at the UN and at an EU level to call for a ceasefire now and we have never wavered on that. We will never waver on that.

We can be proud of our own country, for being so strong and for sometimes remarkably being in the minority. Many of us cannot understand why other countries are finding it difficult to call it what it is and to call out what Israel is doing in Palestine as simply wrong, murderous and barbaric.

I am conscious that while we are debating a motion that is solely focused on Palestine, it is always important to acknowledge what happened on 7 October, the barbarity of it, how wrong it was and that there are still innocent Israeli hostages being held by Hamas who should also be released immediately. They are not bargaining chips. They are not to be used as a tool in a war between Hamas and the Israeli Government. That is important to say. For those families who are still awaiting the return of their loved ones, I can only imagine the despair that they are feeling as well.

It is important to acknowledge that at the outset when there were moves at an EU level to suspend aid to Palestine, Ireland stepped up and was one of four member states to stop that. We have continued to fund UNRWA when other countries decided not to do so. I believe that was the right thing to do. I understand the point being made that there were 12 or 13 individuals accused of being involved in the 7 October attack but the response to suspend all funding to the detriment of and with the severe impact it would have on people who are supported in Palestine by UNRWA is completely disproportionate and wrong. I am glad and proud to see that my country and my Government did not do that, committed a further €20 million and continued to support the vital work that is happening on the ground there.

We have also used our voice at the recent Munich Security Conference to advocate for a ceasefire and the release of all hostages and we continue to do so at the UN Security Council. I believe we are using our voice, as a small country but one that is respected internationally in terms of our long and proud history of peacekeeping and as a voice for peace internationally. We are respected in that regard and we are listened to. We will continue to use our voice to always advocate for peace, a two-state solution, an end to the conflict and the protection of civilian lives.

How this is allowed to continue for so long in this day and age, when we are literally watching, almost first hand, what is happening on the ground in Gaza, beggars belief. All of us could say we have no faith in Hamas to represent or look after the Palestinian people. I think that is accepted. It is a terrorist organisation. Israel seems to be on a path of, and completely blinded by, revenge. They will take a different view. They will say that they have a right to protect their people, and, of course, they do. They have a right to defend themselves but there comes a time when one crosses that line and I think they crossed the line a long time ago. I attempt to understand the pain they might be suffering when they await the return of those hostages who are still in captivity somewhere in Gaza.

We all continue to look to the US for leadership on this because there is belief internationally that it is probably the only country that has any real influence on Israel in bringing a stop to this. That is why it is so regrettable that the resolution of the UN Security Council was again vetoed. That is something that will be marked in history. Those who made that decision will have to live with that decision and the lives that have been lost since that decision was made.

The number of children who have been killed in the past number of months since 7 October is unthinkable but it is important that we talk about it. It is important that it is on the record and it is important that it is called out. There is no excuse. There is no rationale for it. There is no defence of what is happening on the ground in Gaza; when the Israeli Government and the IDF give notice, if we can call it that, to people to move out of an area because they intend to bomb it, whether it is a hospital or whatever - and it does not matter if one cannot physically move or is too sick, too small or too vulnerable, and there are people now in Rafah who have been displaced three or four times - one has to ask where they are supposed to go. They are literally up against a fence. Egypt will not let them in. They say that Israel controls their borders. I do not buy that either, by the way, and Egypt will have to answer for what it is doing in not accepting people. It is so rare that one has a conflict zone where people cannot get out. There is nowhere to go. One would have to ask why people were advised and told to move towards Rafah, as if one were funnelling people into a small area to make it so much easier to target and take them out. That is what it looks like. I am sure the IDF and the Israeli Government will deny that.

All I will say, as I note I am out of time, is that, as a country, we have to continue to advocate for peace and to push for a ceasefire now. I believe war crimes have been committed. Those responsible should be held to account and I hope to see that happening as soon as is possible. I say that while also accepting that there are processes to be followed - I understand all of that - and there are good reasons for having processes in place. However, those who are responsible for murdering innocent civilians need to be brought to justice in the international courts.