Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In speaking today, I realise that I missed World Poetry Day last week, which is important. The theme I want to address, Gaza, which is one we have called for a debate on previously, is sometimes best addressed through poetry. I am not going to read the poem by Dr. Refaat Alareer, "If I Must Die", which is a famous one, where he speaks about "If I must die, let it bring hope" to a child, somewhere in Gaza, looking up. He talks about making his life into a kite. I find it too sad, particularly given that, after his death in an Israeli strike, his daughter and his grandchild were also killed in the following months, even though he so generously spoke of his hope for the next generation.

I want to highlight two poems which are deeply relevant now. First is "You Were So Small in my Hands" by Mosab Abu Toha:

You were so small in my hands

no shrapnel could hit you,

but the dust and

smoke of the bomb

rushed into your lungs.

No need for any gauze.

They just closed your eyes.

No need for any shroud.

You were already

in your swaddle blanket.

There is another poem that I want to highlight, given that a fast called the hunger for justice for Gaza is taking place this week for five days, because there is five days' worth of flour left in Gaza, given that the reports of those who have died in the bombs describe children with sunken cheeks dying in the assault, and given that there are reports of mothers who spoke about how their children cried for food all day and all night and they tried to shove the last piece of bread they had into the mouths of their children killed in the strikes. It is a reminder of why Ireland needs to start acting, with the weak, weak, weak statements coming out of the European Council calling for restraint on the part of those who have said this is just the beginning, who have told us they do not plan to be restrained, and whom we do not apparently plan to restrain. It is a reminder of what that hunger is, by Eavan Boland, just three lines, because I know my time is short:

In the morning they were both found dead.

Of cold. Of hunger. Of the toxins of a whole history.

But her feet were held against his breastbone.

The last heat of his flesh was his last gift to her.

This is our history of knowing what it is to be forcibly starved, knowing what it is to be victims of what is colonisation and an acceleration of colonisation of that which remains of Palestine. I am again really urging action and leadership from Ireland, and for us not to hide behind the European Union, which hides behind calls for restraint when, three weeks ago, EU representatives met the Israeli trade minister and did nothing about changing the trade rules.In fact, there were calls for an acceleration and increase in our trading relationships with those who are executing such cruelties. Again, I look forward to the Minister coming to the House next week, as promised, to discuss these issues.