Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)

I indicate my support for the motion put forward by colleagues, to which they have already spoken on today's Order of Business. That motion and every action we can conceivably take are more important than ever right now. I refer to the motion in respect of Gaza and the egregious breaches of human rights we are seeing on a regular basis. It is more important than ever because, along with many people right across the world, I am utterly appalled, ashamed and disgusted at the outcome of yesterday's EU Council meeting. At the EU Council meeting in June, ministers from across Europe were given an internal report from the EU itself outlining the kinds of horrendous breaches of human rights, basic humanitarian principles and international law that have been conducted by Israel and inflicted on the people of Gaza over the past 20 months in particular. We were all surprised when they came out of that meeting in June and said they were not going to act yet. An options paper was circulated. It is very interesting. It outlines many levers. It mentions ten things the EU could do individually and collectively. Something useful and important in that paper is that it makes it completely clear that individual states can ban trade from occupied territories on the grounds of public policy. We have heard lots of different theories in that regard but the European Commission has now acknowledged that it is possible. It also listed many actions the EU can take collectively.

The ministers went into their next meeting with that list of options before them and walked out of it doing nothing and saying they were going to keep a close eye on the situation and to see if Israel would let a little more aid trickle through. They said they had struck a deal to get a little bit more humanitarian aid through. We have not been told what the other side of the deal is. Is the deal that we will keep a close eye on things to see whether some children get drops of water and scraps of food but will continue to close our eyes to the egregious war crimes, the breaches of human rights, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the indefinite detention of medics in torturous situations? I just want to be clear. Europe is destroying its reputation and credibility internationally by failing to act. I would like the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, who attended that meeting, to come back at the earliest possible opportunity in September to report on what Ireland's strategy will be in the next of these EU meetings.