Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank Senators Black, Ruane, Flynn and Higgins for bringing forward this motion here today. It should be generally understood by now but I confirm that the Government is not opposing the motion. It is a very extensive motion that condemns a number of actions. It notes, with grave concern, a number of other issue, further regrets several other items and further notes a number of points put forward by the Senators. It calls on the Government to take specific action, and calls on the Council of the European Union to also take certain actions. We are taking action by supporting that call that has been put forward here and the Government is not opposing the motion tonight. It is important that on such an important issue that the House can speak with one voice, as we are doing here this evening.

Our debate coincides with deepening concerns at the situation in Gaza and intensifying international efforts. As the Government set out in the House yesterday, Ireland is at the heart of these efforts. Both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have undertaken extensive engagement at EU and international level over the past weeks, and this will continue. Tomorrow, the Attorney General will present Ireland's analysis of Israel's occupation of Palestine to the International Court of Justice. I continue to work closely with my EU and international counterparts to press for increased humanitarian and development assistance and I am proud of the leadership role that Ireland is playing in that regard.

I will first focus on the current situation on the ground and engagement at international level. It was clear from our debate yesterday that the House shares the deep sense of shock and despair at what has taken place in Israel and Gaza since 7 October. The Government has consistency and unequivocally condemned the attacks launched by Hamas on and since 7 October. We have underlined and will continue to underline that the rape and murder of civilians, destruction of civilian property, taking of hostages, use of human shields and indiscriminate firing of rockets at urban centres are serious violations of international humanitarian law. We have called and continued to call for all hostages to be released.

However, we have been equally clear that international law limits the use of force in self-defence to no more than is necessary and proportionate. Ireland's view is that these limits are being exceeded. The number of deaths reported is now approximately 30,000 people. This is a shocking reality.

Reports and statistics are presented to us on a daily basis that must also serve to underline the urgency of international action. Yesterday, the World Health Organization characterised the destruction around Nasser hospital as "indescribable". Last week, the UN Population Fund emphasised the particular vulnerabilities facing women. Everyone in Gaza is hungry, including 50,000 pregnant women, with malnutrition making them more susceptible to disease and less able to recover. This obviously leads to an increase in the number of miscarriages.

The catastrophic humanitarian situation and damage to infrastructure will also leave lasting scars, especially for children. The UN reports that more than 625,000 students and nearly 23,000 teachers in the Gaza Strip have been affected by school closures and attacks on education, including universities, leaving them with no access to education or safe places. Some 80% of school buildings in Gaza have sustained damage, including 142 schools that have sustained major damage or were destroyed.

Against this backdrop, the Government continues to use all relevant possibilities and engagements to urge international progress at the highest political level towards an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, the protection of civilians and the significant scaling-up of fully safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all the people of Gaza. Following the discussion at the Foreign Affairs Council, 26 EU member states agreed a statement urging Israel not to proceed with an offensive in Rafah and to abide by the ICJ provisional measures, which are binding, and calling for an immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire. However, it remains vital that the international community as a whole unites around the need for an immediate ceasefire, including the UN Security Council. It is deeply regrettable that the US chose to veto a resolution at the council this week, which called for exactly that. This only deepens our conviction that the veto is an anachronism and has no place in the 21st century. These issues were central to the engagement of both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste at the Munich Security Conference last weekend, and was forcibly reiterated by the Tánaiste to his EU counterparts on Monday of this week.

There are priorities that I have also underlined in my engagement with EU development ministers. Ireland, as I have stated, has a central message in that engagement at all levels and our message is there needs to be a dramatic upscaling in the level of humanitarian aid reaching the people of Gaza. It is both regrettable and irresponsible that the future of one of the key agencies in delivering such assistance is being put to severe risk at this time, that is, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, UNRWA. I welcome that Commissioner-General Lazzarini was afforded the opportunity to address a meeting of EU development ministers, which I was pleased to attend earlier this month. He underlined that UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian response and a lifeline for millions of refugees across the region. It is my belief that this message was heard clearly by my EU counterparts, as was my own call on those who have suspended funding to urgently rescind their decisions, including the European Commission itself.

It is absolutely clear that the allegations made against 12 UNRWA staff are extremely serious. These staff had their contracts terminated and an immediate investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services was announced. That investigation must be completed, must be comprehensive and should be done as soon as possible. I urge Israel to co-operate fully with that investigation. At the meeting I was at last week, it was indicated that there is a hope this could be done by 20 April. I also welcome that the UN Secretary General has announced the appointment of an independent review group led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna. This will assess, more broadly, how UNRWA is ensuring neutrality and responding to any allegations of serious breaches that may arise. However, it is equally clear that an organisation that employees 13,000 people in the Gaza Strip alone and which enjoys a robust mandate from the United Nations General Assembly cannot and should not be impugned on the alleged conduct of 12 individuals.

Even more vitally, UNRWA provides a lifeline to 1.9 million people displaced by Israel's military operations. There is no replacement for UNRWA's work in Gaza. I think everybody accepts that the work it does is irreplaceable and there is no amount of NGOs that have the infrastructure to carry out what would be needed. We want to ensure that UNRWA can continue its work. That is why Ireland has demonstrated clear leadership through its allocation of a further €20 million to UNRWA last week. This additional allocation supplements our ongoing, long-standing financial commitment to UNRWA, which amounted to €18 million in 2023. The overall commitment to the Palestinian people in 2023 was €36 million, €20 million of which was provided in response to the conflict in Gaza. An airlift of 50 tonnes of Irish humanitarian supplies, including tents, took place on 15 December last. These were also distributed in Gaza in January through Ireland's rapid response initiative.In addition to direct support, Ireland also provided globally prepositioned funds to the UN central emergency response fund to support the Gaza response in 2023. Ireland is the tenth largest contributor to this fund, which had allocated $15 million to the Gaza Strip by December.

I can assure the House that Ireland’s efforts are also focused on the situation in the West Bank, where the UN reports that 393 Palestinians, including 100 children, have been killed since 7 October. The UN has also reported that “since 7 October, settlers, with the political backing of key ministers, are taking advantage of a generally permissive environment to accelerate displacement of Palestinians from their land, raising concerns of forcible transfer seeking to create facts on the ground making the existence of a viable Palestinian state almost impossible”.

This is why Ireland has strongly supported proposals for EU sanctions to be adopted against violent settlers in the West Bank who are attacking and displacing Palestinian communities. At the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, it was clear that 26 member states are ready to move ahead with this. The US, UK and France have already done so. If it is not possible to achieve consensus over the coming period, which, regrettably, may be the case, Ireland will move ahead in conjunction with other EU partners to implement national measures. There are provisions in national legislation to exclude people from entering the State and officials are examining options for such measures.

Ireland continues to consistently raise these issues with the Israeli authorities, including in partnership with our partners on the ground. We also continue our financial support for civil society organisations working in the field of human rights and accountability, as well as the West Bank Protection Consortium, the work of which includes supporting vulnerable Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from individual and mass forcible transfer through the provision of material and humanitarian assistance and legal aid.

Furthermore, the position of Ireland and the international community on the matter of Israeli settlements remains crystal clear: they are illegal under international law. This week, the International Court of Justice in The Hague is holding public hearings in the advisory proceedings on Israel’s occupation of Palestine. I welcome that Ireland’s Attorney General will appear before the court in The Hague tomorrow, where he will set out in detail Ireland’s legal analysis of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The Government is also continuing its analysis of the legal and policy aspects of South Africa’s case under the genocide convention and is in ongoing contact with South Africa and other like-minded partners. We will take a decision on intervention once we have completed this comprehensive legal and policy analysis. As the Tánaiste has set out, it is likely that we will make a final decision on the matter once South Africa files its written memorial.

In November 2023, the Government also announced that it would make a voluntary contribution of €3 million to the International Criminal Court. This announcement was made shortly after the ICC prosecutor highlighted the urgent resource needs of his office during his visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. This was in addition to our annual contribution, which was €1.4 million in 2023. It is because of these contributions that the International Criminal Court is in a position to carry out its work and take on the extra work that people have been calling for. The assistance that we have provided to date is giving it the funds to enable it to do that as it would not be able to carry out these investigations without appropriate funds. These actions reflect the centrality of international law to the policies that we adopt, both domestically and in the international sphere.

Further, the Government has been clear in rejecting unilateral initiatives that run contrary to legal advice, such as the Occupied Territories Bill, which would not be compatible with EU law and not implementable in that situation. This would undermine our broader promotion of compliance with international law at the UN and other international organisations. We want to work collectively on the broader promotion of international law and any law that is not implementable or compatible with EU law would be a contradiction of this.

The Government’s approach is to engage in meaningful initiatives that influence the situation on the ground and seek to shape the political and legal landscape underpinning international policy and action. This is why the Attorney General is presenting our detailed and rigorous analysis to the International Court of Justice tomorrow. This is why the Taoiseach has requested that the European Commission undertake a review of Israel’s compliance with the human rights provisions of the association agreement. This is why Ireland is working with EU partners to adopt sanctions against violent settlers in the West Bank who are attacking and displacing Palestinian communities. This is why Ireland has led by example by increasing its funding to UNRWA and has called on all of our partners to follow suit. This is why humanitarian assistance, as well as long-term development support to the Palestinian people, remain a central priority for me, as Minister of State with responsibility for development. This is why the Government will continue its extensive engagement and diplomatic outreach to secure an immediate ceasefire and to restore a pathway towards a sustainable peace based on the two-state solution. This approach has been set out in several motions adopted by the Dáil since the onset of this crisis and it is the approach that the Government will continue to pursue.