Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A total of 57 tonnes of weapons have been transported through Irish airspace on its way to Israel without clearance from the State. What is the Government doing to challenge Israel and its collaborators regarding this illegal use of sovereign airspace? Irish airspace is being used to transfer weapons of war to commit genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. If it were not for The Ditch, we would not even know about it. The Ditch has laid bare the truth that successive Governments have failed to protect Irish neutrality and that the State has potentially facilitated the transport of weapons to be used in genocide. Instead of dealing with it and addressing the controversy of 57 tonnes of weapons flying over our skies, Government parties have been more than happy to talk about a controversial bike shed out the back of Leinster House. They are more than happy to talk about that controversy because there is someone else to blame. The Government should show some backbone and meaningfully challenge Israel and its collaborators on their illegal use of Irish airspace. Concerns that Ireland is being used to transit weapons to illegal wars have long been dismissed by the Government but we know now that these weapons are destined for Israel, which is engaged in genocide and ethnic cleansing. Domestic law has been ignored by those transporting weapons through our sovereign airspace and we would not even know about it were it not for The Ditch. The question now is: what will the Government do about it? It has to show some backbone. We must enact the occupied territories Bill and Sinn Féin's Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023. Will the Leader, as the Government representative in this House, state clearly what actions the Government intends to take over this illegal use of our sovereign airspace?