Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I again want to raise the issue of conflict. I have been involved in the conflict space for 35 years. I have never seen Europe so destabilised as it is now. We have an attack by approximately 35,000 Russian troops in the area of Kharkiv. I fear for a break out on the eastern front. These are effects that will be felt from Kharkiv right across to Lysychansk to the banks of the Grand Canal. It impacts us.

More compellingly, or equally as compelling, we have entered day 220 of the conflict in Gaza and Rafah. Yesterday, the World Health Organization and Human Rights Watch confirmed 25,000 dead in Gaza. They have fully confirmed their identities. That is an extraordinary rate of killing over the past 220 days. It is 113 people being slaughtered every day 24-7, seven days a week. Of this number, 7,797 children have been identified as being killed in the conflict thus far. That is 36 children every day, which is more than one an hour; it is three children every two hours. Since I came into my office this morning, to use these appalling calculations, nine children have been butchered. This has been happening on a 24-7 basis for 220 days thus far. We have also had 4,959 women killed in indiscriminate air strikes and direct fire attacks. That is an extraordinary rate of killing. If this is not genocide, we are certainly witnessing infanticide and femicide on a disinhibited basis.

We need to talk about our relationship with the United States in regard to all of this. We need to talk about Shannon Airport. We need to talk about the onward passage of weapons and ammunition through that airport, which is a large logistics hub for the US military. There is also the overflight of aircraft. Hundreds of US military aircraft are passing through our airspace carrying weapons for Israel. They are exempt from any en route air traffic control charges, which are then passed on to the taxpayer and paid by the Department of Transport to the Irish Aviation Authority. We, as taxpayers in a neutral state, are making a material financial contribution to the butchery and slaughter in Gaza. I welcome tomorrow's debate on the Civic Engagement Group's Private Members' Air Navigation and Transport (Arms Embargo) Bill 2024. When we take into account the numbers of missing men, women and children, and the unconfirmed identities of those murdered and maimed, we can see that this is a mass murder and mass disabling event. As a nation, we have to stand up to our partners as well as those we criticise in order to question their involvement in this.