Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Senator Kelleher, if that is agreeable.

I thank the Tánaiste. He is very welcome to the Chamber and thank him for being here. When we first talk about Palestine, Gaza and the conflict there, it is always important that we put on the record that what happened on 7 October was terrible. There were 1,195 people murdered by Hamas and 251 hostages taken. No one can possibly justify that. We call on those hostages to be released immediately.

Reflecting on Ireland’s response since then, we can say we were one of the leading countries in the world in our support for Palestine. We joined the South African court case. As the Tánaiste just noted, a year ago yesterday we recognised the State of Palestine and we now officially have an ambassador from Palestine to Ireland who is doing impressive work. In the programme for Government we stated our intention to have an occupied territories Bill, something which was first introduced by Senator Black and I note the excellent work she did. However, if we had said two years ago that those things would have happened or that we would have said we intended to do them, it would not have been seen as credible or that it might happen. As the Tánaiste said in his opening remarks, it is welcome that many EU countries have followed suit. That has not happened by accident. It is because of diplomacy behind the scenes by countries like Ireland and Spain trying their best to influence people to do the morally right thing.

When these things happen, which are called for by the Opposition and supported by the Government, people have different perspectives and views. There is no problem with that. Some people say we are not going far enough and we need to go further and that these are token measures. I do not think most people in the two Chambers here do not genuinely believe that. These decisions are not easy. You might think they are easy. Most people in Ireland are very supportive of decisions that are being made in support of Palestine but there are people who lobby saying we have gone too far, that we should support Israel and we should do this or that.I have witnessed at first hand people come to the Tánaiste directly to say that what he is doing in terms of supporting Palestine is disgraceful and wrong. I have seen him respond unequivocally to say that he will not change, on behalf of the people of Ireland, his views on the people of Palestine. In other countries we are seeing the influence of pro-Israel lobbyists working. For the life of me, I cannot understand how leaders in other countries and those in leadership roles cannot come above politics and see the moral obligation that we have. The current and previous administrations in America could have done more.

The line is always that Hamas started it and is a terrorist organisation, which, obviously, it is. However, 50% of the people in Palestine are under the age of 16. They have no involvement whatsoever in any terrorist organisation or anything that has happened during the war. Since Israel took action after 7 October, 17,500 children have died in Palestine. The very first week the war started, the Tánaiste spoke about the children of Palestine as innocent people being murdered. Of the 17,500 children killed, 1,700 were under the age of one. They cannot even walk. They have had actually no involvement in terrorism, yet they are being murdered on a daily basis.

Israel is hitting hospitals and schools, and has said this is being done because there are underground tunnels. Some 36 hospitals have been blown apart by Israel and there has been no evidence whatsoever of Hamas having secret tunnels or locations in these schools or hospitals. The Tánaiste said we need to do more, and everyone needs to do more. From our perspective, it is about influencing other countries. I understand that this cannot be done in front of TV screens, but at every private meeting we have with other leaders of other countries I ask the Tánaiste to continue to do more to support these people.