Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)

I thank those who tabled the motion. I will be happy to support it. It sets out some important recognitions in terms of the horror of the war, the imposed famine and, indeed, the fact that the UN commission has been very explicit that this is genocide. This is something we have all seen and that most experts have told us about for a very long time. The motion also sets out the idea that international law should be applied equally to all. Those are important key points but maybe something more needs to be added, in just a couple of areas.The motion is, by its nature, what is negotiated. It is important to mark some of the places where we need to be clearer and stronger. It is important to make a correction. It is a small piece but in terms of the humanitarian side of things, in relation to the flotilla, it was suggested by the Minister of State who was here previously that somehow the triple lock stops us from playing up. Let us be explicitly clear, it does not. The 2006 Defence Act, section 3(1)(f), explicitly allows deployment for "undertaking humanitarian tasks in response to an actual or potential disaster or emergency”. It is disingenuous to suggest that somehow acting in a humanitarian way is something that gets held back. I find it frustrating because there are many things that Ireland can do that nobody is stopping it from doing which it is still not doing. While it is really good to see the call on the Government to use its diplomatic voice at the UN and the EU, let us talk about our actions and what is available to us as actions.

Back on the humanitarian side, Ireland receives congratulations on the substantial humanitarian assistance. Two hundred people - that is all - is what we have taken from Gaza, a killing field. I do not like to go into individuals but there are ten families waiting on reunification with their children here in Ireland. In one of those cases a woman accompanied her six-year-old child but was forced to leave three other children aged eight, 12 and 14 in Gaza with no parents, choosing her youngest child’s survival. She has now not heard from those children in more than a week. Why are we not giving the basics of reunification, of bringing full families here? That might be substantial.We need to bring anybody whom we have a solid reason for doing so.That woman is now a stamped for refugee and entitled to refuge. Where there are mechanisms in place, let us use them and not trying to do the least possible. Let us be clear, if there is an attempt to appeal to the public on this, to show we have a hard line on immigration, this is not a place to be applying it. Two hundred people is a small number. Incidentally, €95 million is not that much either when we look at what we have given in other situations and the extent of the need. The crucial piece are the lives and families that could be saved.

To address another part of this issue, humanitarian aid, we can do more for the flotilla. Neither the triple lock nor anything else is stopping us. We can do more for the lives of families, each one precious and bringing something extraordinary from their experience. I am thinking particularly of the very small number of students, 50 or 60 in total, who have come to Ireland. These are incredible people to have pursued their goals to such a degree and bring ideas for the future out of a place of such awful dystopia. We should be looking to support more of them, along with their families, so they can focus on the future and not, as I know many of these students to be, engaging in desperate phone calls to their younger siblings day by day to see if they are still alive.

On the other side of it, we have to be very honest about the flow of money and arms. The flow of words is fine. Recognition is fine, but we need to be a little bit clear. Some people think we were the first to recognise Palestine. Ireland was the 142nd country in the world to recognise the State of Palestine. Everyone recognised Palestine except Europe, partly due to Europe's long-term economic, historic and other ties with Israel and its refusal to challenge Israel, along with its contribution to impunity and words about the two-state solution while purposely refusing to recognise one of the states in the mix. Ireland was good because it got Europe moving even though it was not the first country within Europe. It moved Europe forward. However, let us be clear that recognising the State of Palestine is not the game-changer; it is us repairing damage for something Europe should have done ages ago and did not. That is not enough to move the dial within the UN. What needs to happen is the kind of thing the Hague Group is putting forward. The Hague Group is a group of states from right across the world that Ireland should be signing up to which says it stands by international law and its universal application and it is going to apply it in all of these concrete ways, including, for example, shipping controls and actually stopping military transit. When we talk about that commission report that is quoted in the motion, it explicitly calls for an end to the transfer of arms and other equipment or items where there is reason to suspect their use in military operations that could support the commission of genocide. The foreign affairs committee heard from UNRWA about the robot tanks demolishing entire neighbourhoods from a comfortable distance for those who operate them, mowing down the overcrowded, desperate neighbourhoods of Gaza City. This is the elephant in the room for Ireland.

Let us talk about technologies and let us be honest about the fact that dual-use goods - dual-use is a phrase that sounds soft - goods that can be used for military purposes, have massively escalated to €113 million in exports. We have seen a massive export in those technologies from Ireland to Israel which are used in the machinery of war, in the algorithms that track people home to their houses to be killed. We have control over the exports of that technology, of those dual-use goods, and we need to be honest about that.

I will finish on two points, the first being the Central Bank bonds. That is the real flow of money. The Central Bank ignored a committee which called for a review in terms of international law and has instead tried to pass the buck to Luxembourg and say it is still going to approve these Israeli bonds, literally used to fund the war and the occupation, and have them funded but locate them in Luxembourg. I have talked to Luxembourg parliamentarians and they are not happy about that either.

Finally, if the occupied territories Bill does not include services, it is not fulfilling the International Court of Justice advisory opinion which is explicitly clear on the obligation to prevent trade or investment relations that contribute to the maintenance of the illegal situation. The foreign affairs committee was clear that that means goods and services. The Government needs to hear that message. It should listen to the finance committee which says international law is at risk in the Central Bank's actions. It should listen to the foreign affairs committee which is telling it we need goods and services included, and it should listen to the people of Ireland and indeed, the Members here, who I know feel passionately about this, and act quickly and effectively with meaningful action and not just words.