Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In advance of the election, I thank the Cathaoirleach and his predecessor, Senator Mark Daly, for welcoming me into this House. I also thank Martin Groves, all of the staff in the Seanad Office, the ushers and everybody else who is part of this community for their support. I particularly thank my colleagues here in Seanad Éireann for all the support they have given me in the short time I have been here and for supporting my disability Bills. I wish each and every one of them and their families the best of luck in the upcoming campaigns. I wish them well.

With regard to elections, it now looks likely that Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States of America. My initial interest in Donald Trump is in the context of the appalling conflict in Gaza and Lebanon. As pointed out by Senators Gavan and Martin previously, 45,000 Palestinian men, women and children have been butchered in the last 395 days. That is 45 children every day. Two children are murdered every hour. Since we came in here this morning, half a dozen or perhaps eight, nine or ten children, including infants and six- and seven-year-olds, will have been butchered. An order based on the rules of international law, including international humanitarian law, has been torn up by Hamas in its genocidal attack on 7 October, by Hezbollah in its indiscriminate attacks on Israel, by Mr. Netanyahu and by Mr. Putin in his criminal invasion of Ukraine. I am interested to see whether Donald Trump will stand up for the international rules-based order. There is no pretence of a battlefield any more. It is now the case that the innocent civilian population is the primary target. They are not collateral damage. We have femicide at an unprecedented level. We also see infanticide and urbicide, the destruction of cities, whether Zaporizhzhia or Gaza. That is genocide. These are the seeds being sown, as Senator Martin has said. Israel is sowing the seeds of its own destruction and the destruction of the Middle East but we will inherit this international non-rules-based order. I urge the Irish Government to persist in its moral leadership in calling out these crimes against humanity and war crimes and not to take instructions from foreign embassies.