Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)

Senator Kelleher made me think with his comment about his son. I am also an Arsenal fan and I was also wondering if Saka is fit for the weekend, and then it made me think how can I be wondering or worrying about something so unimportant in the big picture of what is going on in Gaza. Senator Kelleher put it very well. Not as a Senator or as a public representative but as a human being, I have been horrified since the attack on 7 October by Hamas, which I condemned, but two wrongs do not make a right. Hamas was wrong and its attack should never have happened but with the overreaction of Israel and Netanyahu, two wrongs do not make a right. We have said it and everybody has said it, that it is genocide.

I raise this issue continually with the people in more powerful positions than me as to why we are not doing more. I acknowledge today's motion and I also acknowledge the fact that the Government has led from the front, but yet I ask the question why we cannot do more. When I ask at a meeting, I am told we are doing a lot and that we have done more than many others, but then I go home and put on the news and I see what is going on. You would not be human if you did not feel that we need to do more. What we are doing is not having the desired effect, but we have to keep doing it. I compliment the Government on what it has done.

I compliment my colleagues who brought forward this motion. I strongly support it.I also compliment Senators Stephenson, Harmon, Cosgrove and Noonan for the work they put in to the amendments to strengthen today's motion. I have to take the opportunity to berate Sinn Féin for the attitude its representatives have taken here today in playing politics and trying to score points as usual. I send my very best wishes to their colleague, Senator Andrews, on the flotilla and I condemn what has happened to it. I wish him every good luck in his journey and hope he comes home safely. However, I cannot sit here and listen to political point scoring. I commend everyone else in the Chamber whose hearts are in the right place and who really want the best and quickest solution to the problem we have. For Sinn Féin Members to stand up and try to score political points shows how genuine they are on the topic. It is reiterated even more by the fact that I am looking over at empty chairs. They did not even stay for the duration of the debate. We cannot play politics as usual with this issue.

We all genuinely believe what I and everyone else, bar a couple of Members, have said here today. We have to keep pushing for more. I am repeating myself and will conclude on this: it may not look it from the outside but we have done a lot. We have boxed above our weight, we have led Europe and now have other countries beginning to come around to our way of thinking. It has be commended that we were out there first but there needs to be more done. The consequences of all we have done are not enough and not acceptable but we have to be genuine and we cannot play politics with this issue as was done here today.