Cian O'Callaghan
Dublin Bay North · Social Democrats · Ireland
“Unification presents distinct challenges that need to be carefully planned for and managed. The analysis done by Professor Doyle shows that the cost of pensions would be unlikely to transfer to a united Ireland straight away. Following Brexit, the UK and Ireland signed a bilateral convention on social security in 2019.”
“Ireland spends less than that defending a much larger territory and has decades of underinvestment to catch up on. We need increased investment, particularly in systems and technologies, including sonar and air surveillance radar.”
“I welcome this important discussion on the topic of Irish unity and its fiscal implications. It deserves analysis and fundamentally respect for the people, who will ultimately decide the future of this island. There are real challenges in any transition to unity but there are also very significant opportunities.”
“These are highly skilled jobs with union representation and apprenticeship programmes. They are of fundamental importance to the local economy and community. They should never have been left exposed in this way.”
“The Tánaiste must surely know that these exports are feeding Putin's war machine. Does he not think it is unusual that Ireland is one of the very few European countries where our exports to Russia have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine? That has been driven by the exports of alumina that have more than doubled.”
“We know from the investigation carried out by The Irish Times and the organised crime and corruption reporting project that alumina from Ireland is ending up in Russian owned smelters in Krasnoyarsk. Krasnoyarsk is Russia's only smelter producing high purity aluminium.”
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“Will the Taoiseach do that? Will he answer that question? I am not taking from anything else he is saying or doing but in relation to bonds and the financing of this genocide, will the Taoiseach do everything he can to stop it?”
“I do not take away from anything the Taoiseach just said but I asked him about the sale of bonds being facilitated by the Central Bank of Ireland. It is very clear that these bonds are being used to fund the genocide. The Taoiseach has recognised that genocide is taking place and he has an obligation under the Genocide Convention to do everything he can to stop that genocide. The fact is that the genocide is being financed, in part, by bonds being authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland. Clearly, that has to stop now. The Taoiseach and Government can tell the Central Bank to stop facilitating and authorising those bonds.”
“This advice states clearly that stopping the sale of these bonds is compatible with the Irish Constitution and EU law and in accordance with international law. The Taoiseach has recognised that what is happening in Gaza is genocide. Ireland has a legal obligation under the genocide convention to do everything we can to stop genocide.”
“These bonds are explicitly advertised as being crucial to the war effort. Israel is running marketing campaigns imploring people to buy these bonds so they can stand with Israel. Israel Bonds president and CEO Dani Naveh has told potential investors that purchasing the bonds was the best way to help Israel support the war campaign. The sale of these bonds is being facilitated in Europe by the Central Bank of Ireland. Those are the facts. It is also a fact that the Government does not want to do anything about this. Last night, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, shamefully claimed that the Government could not act. He did so even though legal advice from Oireachtas lawyers says it can.”
“On Friday morning, nine of his nieces and nephews were killed by Israel. An air strike on the home of his sister, a doctor in Gaza, killed her children while she was working on an emergency ward. Her youngest children were still in pyjamas. What Israel is doing in Gaza is not just depraved and immoral, it is inhumane, barbaric and illegal. Every time we think we have seen the worst of what Israel can do in terms of cruelty and lawlessness, the situation gets even worse. More than 60,000 people are now dead, most of them women, children and the elderly. A British surgeon working in Gaza has described it as a slaughterhouse. The weapons being used in the slaughter are not just Israeli. They are being supplied by the United States and countries in Europe. Much of the weaponry is being financed by the sale of Israeli bonds.”
“I recognise the work the Government has done in support for UNRWA and the International Court of Justice and in recognising the State of Palestine, which it did on this day one year ago. There is, however, much more that needs to be done. After the last 12 months, it is unclear how much longer the State of Palestine will actually exist on the map. An entire people, its culture and place are being methodically and systematically erased by Israel. Israel's genocidal campaign of death and devastation has continued for nearly two years with barely a pause and without any sanction. The daily horrors we are witnessing are utterly horrific. People in Gaza cannot feed their families or treat their injured. All the while, a few kilometres away, thousands of trucks laden with aid are refused entry at the border. Dr. Ali Al-Najjar works in Sligo.”
“How can there be proper confidence in a body that will not give families the very report which it has prepared and which is in the public interest? Taxpayers' money was spent on seven years' investigation of the complaints relating to the horrific failings in this case. It is imperative that these reports are given to the O'Farrell family. There is absolutely nothing in the legislation that states the reports should not be given to the family. I call on Fiosrú to immediately hand over these reports to the family of Shane O'Farrell and not make them wait any longer. Shane should be with his family today. Nothing can change that, but what can be changed is that the answers that the family have been campaigning for all these years can now be provided.”
“This was because there was no evidence that they had ever been trained on the PULSE system to check previous court outcomes. It was not part of their training then and still is not now. Responsibility for Garda training rests with the Garda Commissioner. The section 101 public interest report, which was completed in April 2018, has been refused to the family. The section 97 report regarding minor discipline has also been refused to the family. In Northern Ireland, the police ombudsman, when it has completed its report, will call the family in, go through the report and give the family the report to take home as it might help to answer some of their questions. Why is such a practice not being followed here?”
“This directed that all complaints should be investigated independently of the Garda in the public interest. The public interest investigation was completed on 13 April 2018. The family received a summary version only. A year later, in January 2019, GSOC produced another section 97 report regarding minor discipline. This recommended to the Garda Commissioner that three Garda members receive disciplinary fines. The Garda Commissioner then appointed a superintendent to look at the recommendations by GSOC to see if these officers should receive discipline and he agreed that they should. One garda accepted the fine. The other two took judicial review proceedings and challenged the decision. The outcome of the judicial review proceedings was that the Garda Commissioner agreed on consent not to discipline the two gardaí.”
“Shane had a bright future ahead of him and so much more to give. Shane was dearly loved by his family, including his sisters, his mother, Lucia and his father, Jim. The trauma, heartache and grief of losing Shane has been compounded by years of campaigning for truth and justice. I raise the failures of GSOC, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, which is now named Fiosrú. It spent seven years investigating the complaints of the family and has refused to publish the two reports it produced, adding to this trauma. GSOC had this case for seven years. Shane's sister, Gemma, initially put her complaints in in January 2012. Those complaints were still under investigation, when, on 29 April 2014, then Minister for Justice Alan Shatter ordered a section 102 public interest investigation.”
“First, I pay tribute to the family of Shane O'Farrell, namely, his mother Lucia, his father Jim and his sisters, Aimee, Pia, Hannah and Gemma, who are in the Distinguished Visitors' Gallery. I also acknowledge the official apology from the Minister for Justice. The family have been waiting for 14 years for this apology and for answers to questions about the death of their son and brother Shane. The apology is a reflection of the 14 years of campaigning by the family and their struggle for truth and justice. Shane O'Farrell should never have been taken away from his family. When I met Lucia, she told me of a kind, compassionate and caring son. Shane was a person who others turned to when they were in difficulty. He never turned people away. He listened and helped in any way that he could. He was hugely respected and loved.”
“Regarding statements this evening that the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is doing on the external audit into Children's Health Ireland, there are no questions and answers as part of that business but we need accountability. Parents at the weekend were ringing the phoneline but could not get any answers to any questions they put. They just had their contact details were taken. We need the Minister this evening to take questions, answers and to have accountability on this, not simply statements.”
“We are talking about children, sometimes as young as the age of two and even younger, being operated on. What has happened is incomprehensible. When parents rang the phone line that was set up for them at the weekend all they were asked for was their contact details. None of the questions they asked could be answered by the people on the phone line. It is not an acceptable way to treat the parents. The Taoiseach said that everything needs to be looked at and reviewed and that clinical oversight needs to be reviewed. Is he committing to carrying out a review of why the system of clinical directors here is failing? When will that review start? Will he give details about it? I do not want him to commentate on this. I want him, as Taoiseach, to give us hard details about what he will do in reviewing the failures of clinical oversight.”
“The HSE, the Department of Health, the National Treatment Purchase Fund and the Medical Council were never notified. Will the Taoiseach confirm that all of the children operated on will have access to an independent clinical audit by international experts? Will the Government commission a review of the system of clinical directors to determine why alarm bells did not ring?”
“The parents of some of the children were told they would not have been operated on if they were at Crumlin. At the time, they thought they were lucky. They were led to believe their children were getting cutting-edge treatment that was not available at Crumlin. Now, they fear their children suffered the agony and trauma of surgery unnecessarily. The Taoiseach has said himself that the era of consultants being utterly unaccountable is meant to be over. The system of clinical directors was introduced in 2008 - nearly 20 years ago - but is it working? None of the issues identified in Children's Health Ireland was detected by clinical oversight. They came to light because of whistleblowers and a random review. Even when potential fraud and abuse of waiting lists were detected, the wagons were circled.”
“We now need all the facts and full transparency and accountability from Children's Health Ireland, but can we trust it to provide that? It sat on a 2021 report that was highly critical of one of its consultants. That report found the consultant earned more than €35,000 by keeping very young children on a waiting list for years. They were eventually treated using the NTPF when they were transferred to the consultant's weekend clinic, but they could have been treated by other doctors years earlier. When all of this was discovered, it was kept a secret and the consultant was allowed to retire and sail into the sunset. The final audit of hip surgeries confirmed that nearly 80% at Cappagh and 60% at Temple Street could have been unnecessary. The high prevalence of surgery at these hospitals was not a secret.”
“Children's Health Ireland is in crisis. Another three members of the board have resigned today. A succession of scandals has cast serious doubts on its capacity to provide quality healthcare to children in this country. A common thread in each of the scandals is an almost complete absence of clinical oversight. Medically questionable and unethical practices proliferated under the noses of highly paid clinical directors and management teams at CHI and Cappagh. The HSE and the Department of Health were either kept in the dark or did not notice. Clinical oversight and governance systems failed. Children were not protected. They suffered extremely painful hip surgeries. It is unthinkable to think that any child would be put through this trauma unnecessarily.”
“It is not acceptable if the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues have been breaking the law for more than three years and letting down children and their families who desperately need access to services and assessment of need simply because they could not agree among themselves what to do.”
“That is an astonishing answer. The High Court judgment was more than three years ago and the Taoiseach has just now told us that the reason it has not been acted on or that the Government has not got its act together on this is that the previous Government could not agree on what to do. Is that the case? We have more than 15,000 children waiting for an assessment of need that they desperately need, beyond the six-month limit, and the Government is breaking the law because for the past three years, the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues have not been able to get their act together and agree on what to do. Is that the case? What we need from the Government now is detail on how it is going to fix this. It has been talking around changing the law and hiring more people but when will it actually stop breaking the law?”
“Cara has said it does not matter what age someone is; anyone who makes a promise should keep it and if they do not, their credibility will be gone. The credibility of this Government is already in tatters, with a list of broken promises, but there is an opportunity now for the Government to rebuild it. Following the Taoiseach's meeting with Cara this morning, will he now tell us when the Government is going to stop breaking the law?”
“If the issue is really a priority, why was it not done on day one? The reality is that successive Governments have claimed disability is a priority. Endless waiting lists for assessment of need and vital services tell a very different story. Parents know that early intervention can make a world of difference to their child. It could be the difference between learning how to speak or getting left behind. Imagine what it is like to see your child placed on an endless waiting list as they miss key milestones. As Cara has learned, when it comes to this Government, talk is cheap. Last year, when she met the Taoiseach's colleague Simon Harris, he made commitments to her. Instead of keeping those promises, they were broken.”
“The High Court struck down the accelerated assessment procedure more than three years ago. The Government has had all of that time to act but it did not. The procedure was struck down for a good reason. It consisted of one hour of observed playtime and a 30-minute discussion with a parent. Children were then diagnosed as having a disability but not told which disability they had. It was a completely inadequate, box-ticking exercise. Is the Taoiseach telling us that this is the system to which the Government will return or is its plan to get rid of assessment of need altogether? The Taoiseach also said yesterday that he was in the process of setting up a disability unit in his Department. It is now nearly six months since the election. How far along in this process is he? What is the delay in setting it up?”
“Cara Darmody is continuing her protest outside the Dáil today because nothing she has heard from the Government has convinced her to end it. Asked repeatedly yesterday if the Government would stop breaking the law, the Taoiseach could not even give that assurance. The Government does not seem to see the problem with this. It has access to State resources, can direct policy and can authorise hiring. It can fix this, yet despite having all these tools and resources at the Government's disposal, all the Taoiseach could offer yesterday was the same old tired excuses. I want to examine some of those excuses now. The Taoiseach said yesterday that, fundamentally, we need to change the legislation when it comes to assessment of need. When exactly did he arrive at this decision?”
“The Taoiseach talks about progress and step-change but the HSE is saying that the shocking figure of more than 15,000 children overdue an assessment of need this year will be 25,000 by the end of this year. That is what is happening. He knows that early intervention is crucial for children. It makes a world of difference. It can mean the difference between children with the proper supports learning to talk, participate and make friends or, if they do not get that, getting left behind and left out. It makes all the difference. Where is the emergency action the Government is planning to address this? What will it do today to start fixing this? Will the Government start, as Cara is asking, complying with the law? When will it comply with the law?”
“It should not take a 50-hour protest outside the Dáil by Cara, just 14 years old, to shame this Government into action to provide assessment of needs within the legal time limit of six months. Will the Taoiseach stop breaking this law?”
“When the Taoiseach is asked about this he blames court judgements, the law and growing need. He fails to take responsibility. Families have had enough of Government excuses. Opposition parties are putting down a joint motion calling for immediate action. Children with additional needs deserve more than just broken promises. They need quality services to be available when they need them. We all know childhood is fleeting and at the moment too many children are being left behind. Consistent Government failures mean children are being denied the opportunity to reach their full potential. We cannot and we will not tolerate that. The Dáil motion that the Social Democrats and other parties have tabled is not asking for bells and whistles. It is asking for the Government to comply with the law.”
“She is here in the Gallery, and will be outside the building during the day, to highlight that services are getting worse not better. She has watched her two younger brothers, Neil and John, who have additional needs, being repeatedly failed and she has made it very clear that she is undertaking her protest for every child in the country that is being left behind. There are now more than 15,000 children all over the country who are overdue an assessment of needs. The HSE is warning that by the end of the year the figure could be 25,000. That would be 25,000 children left waiting for an assessment of needs beyond the legal time limit; 25,000 children with additional needs being failed by this Government; 25,000 children just like Neil and John. This is utterly unacceptable.”
“Successive Governments have let children with autism and intellectual disabilities down in the worst possible way. Permanent damage is being caused to thousands and thousands of children. The fact this is happening is a national disgrace. Those are not my words but those of Cara Darmody, who joins us in the Gallery, who has begun a 50-hour protest over disability services outside the Dáil. Cara did not utter those words today but last year when Cara held a weekly protest outside Leinster House and Government Buildings. Cara has been highlighting the crisis in the assessment of needs and disability services since she was just 11. No child should have to spend years campaigning and protesting for basic services. Cara should be in school today like other kids her age but she is not.”
“For parents and their families not to have information that they are seeking is hugely distressing for them. It is the least they deserve and expect. We know at this stage, from some of the information that has been drip-fed, that some of the recommendations in the draft audit are being implemented. Why can the Government not share with us all of the recommendations in that draft audit? It is already working on implementing a number of them, which parents have found out, so why not share all of them with us? Why withhold that at this stage? The Government is working away on implementing recommendations, yet it will not share with us and the families what those recommendations are. Will the Minister now share those recommendations, which the Government is working on, with the families and the public?”
“This is causing considerable distress for families who are desperate for information. The entire process has been dealt with shambolically by the Government. Families have been left in the dark and this needs to end now. The Taoiseach told me yesterday that he expected the audit to be finalised by the end of next week. Does this mean parents will have it in their hands next week? What day will they receive it? Can the Minister outline the full list of recommendations that have already been put into place at Children's Health Ireland and Cappagh as a result of the audit? Will the Minister for Health answer questions next week in the Dáil when the audit is finalised? Will the Minister for education give me a commitment on that?”
“Families are devastated to find out this has happened to their children. Parents who have contacted me do not know where to go to get their questions answered. At the very least, the Government must address this now. The lack of basic information, the level of inaccurate information and the drip feed of information coming from the Government is not acceptable. Why is the Government keeping families in the dark until the final audit is published? On foot of the draft audit, a number of measures have already been taken. More than 2,200 letters have been sent out to families, a multidisciplinary team of clinicians is already reviewing cases and an action plan has been put in place. A lot of things are happening in the background but what we are not getting is upfront or complete information about it.”
“The Government has repeatedly stated that it does not want to see a drip feed of information about the audit of hip surgeries at the three children's hospitals but that is what we are getting. Any information about the scandal has had to be dragged out of the Government. Yesterday, responding to me, the Taoiseach confirmed for the first time that he expected the audit to be finalised next week. Why did it take so long to provide this basic information, which families have been spending months trying to get? It also took until yesterday to reveal that more than 2,200 families have now received letters as result of the audit. On Tuesday, the Taoiseach did not even know the correct reason those letters had been sent. Unnecessary and painful surgery on young children is horrific. The impacts of these surgeries can be hugely traumatic.”
“Thanks, Taoiseach. The parents who have been in contact with me are deeply worried about the situation. They do not know who to turn to for information and are finding that very frustrating. They want a timeline on this. They also want to know how many letters have been sent out. The Taoiseach does not have that information at present. Is that the situation? He is not able to tell us. When will he be able to tell us how many letters have been issued? How, as Taoiseach of the country, does it take him this long to establish something as basic as how many letters have been issued? Surely that figure is known by Children's Health Ireland. Why is it not able to give the Taoiseach that kind of basic information straight out?”
“Will he stop with the evasion and level with us? When will the families involved have the answers they need? When will the audit be published? When the Taoiseach was asked yesterday how many letters had been sent to parents, he did not know the answer. Getting an answer on this should be straightforward. It is simply not credible that no one would have this basic information. The Taoiseach has had the past 24 hours to find out. Can he now tell us how many letters were sent out to parents whose children had operations over the past 15 years?”
“The Taoiseach has accused Opposition TDs of trying to politicise this issue. Would he accuse parents who are desperate for information of the same thing? We are trying our best to get information for them. I have been contacted by parents whose children may be impacted by this and who are deeply distressed. They watched their children suffer terribly through serious surgery and now they wonder whether the surgery was necessary at all. Did their children go through all that pain and trauma for nothing? The least they deserve is a date for when these questions will be answered. The notion that no one can provide an indicative date is not just implausible; it is insulting. The Taoiseach hinted yesterday that he knows more than he is willing to say publicly. He said the audit may be published sooner than we think.”
“If it is, this raises further questions about the Government's competence and control of this scandal. We had the ridiculous situation yesterday where neither the Taoiseach nor the Minister for Health were able to tell us how many letters had been sent to families by Children's Health Ireland. These letters are not connected to the audit, we are told, and have been sent to families whose children were operated on over the past 15 years. The Government is entirely ignorant about how many families may even be involved. That is really staggering. Has anyone in the Cabinet thought of picking up the phone and asking Children's Health Ireland and Cappagh hospital how many letters have been sent or is the Government too busy trying to maintain plausible deniability about the crisis to ask these basic questions?”
“It is more than two months since my colleague Pádraig Rice first asked the Taoiseach about disturbing reports of an audit of hip surgeries on children at three separate hospitals. Back then, the Taoiseach said the audit process was in its final stages. That was ten weeks ago. The parents of the children involved have received no further information since. They have been told the audit is in its final stages for months. The Taoiseach repeated that same mantra yesterday and refused to provide any timeline for the publication of this report. In fact, he bristled at the notion that he would even be asked the question. Let us be very clear: the audit is independent, but that does not mean the Government should be totally in the dark about when parents will finally get some answers.”
“I thank the Taoiseach for his response. Families have heard these promises before. There is a world of difference between a sanctioned classroom and a classroom that will actually open in September. A child cannot go to school in a classroom that is just sanctioned; it has to be up and running. No family should have to fight to get an education for their child and no parent should have to take legal action against the State to vindicate this right. A total of 399 new special education classrooms have been sanctioned for the next school year. How many of them will be open in September? The Taoiseach did not answer me. Will the State be fighting these cases that have been taken by parents and families? Is he able to give a commitment that every child will have an appropriate school place in September?”
“Will the Taoiseach tell me whether the State will be fighting these families in the cases now before the courts? Will he give a commitment that every child in this country will have an appropriate school place in September?”
“Successive governments have promised to address this scandal but still children with additional needs are not just failed, they are consciously failed. The State either does not care enough to provide appropriate school places or it lacks the competence to do so. These families are not looking for special treatment. They just want their children to have the same rights as other children in the State. They want them to be able to learn and develop to their maximum potential. They want them to be able to enjoy the routine and activities of a school day. They want them to be able to socialise and make friends with other children. This is all they are asking for. Families with children who have additional needs are fed up with platitudes and they are fed up with broken promises. They want to see action.”
“One mother who has taken a case has an eight-year old child with autism who has never attended school. In a sworn statement, she told the High Court, “The sad truth is that if I never sent [the boy] to school, nobody would know and nobody would care”. The really awful thing is that this mother is right. Children with additional needs do not enjoy an automatic right to education. Every year hundreds of these children fight to get a school place. Their parents must beg, plead and cajole, and ultimately take legal cases to vindicate their rights, all so their children can get a place in a classroom. Despite these efforts, they are often unsuccessful. This relentless battle with the State, which should be there to support these families, is all-consuming, draining and exhausting. It is bringing many parents to the brink.”
“On behalf of the Social Democrats, I extend our deepest sympathies to the friends, colleagues and family of Garda Kevin Flatley. Garda Flatley lost his life while serving the community to keep us safe. Our thoughts are with all those mourning this terrible loss, his wife Una, and his children Aoife and Erin. The State is continuing to fail children with additional needs. All over the country there are hundreds of children who do not have a school place or an appropriate school place. The damage this is doing to children, to their development and their well-being is unforgivable. The stress and anxiety this causes families is incalculable. Now a number of families have been forced to take legal action against the State over its failure to provide their children with an education.”
“Of course, this leads to children having to travel further to a school that meets their family’s values. In terms of building communities, that does not work for reasons including traffic congestion and segregation. I have talked to many teachers in my constituency who feel deeply uncomfortable that they are forced to teach religious instruction they do not believe to children whose parents do not believe in it. They really want that hypocrisy to end.”
“The education system in Ireland today should reflect the Ireland of today. That is what this motion is about. There have been huge changes in Ireland since many of us went to school but that is not reflected in our education system or in the choices that parents and their children can make. In my constituency, one of the things that parents point out to me is that there are areas with higher house prices that have a level of choice in terms of schools and denominations, but in areas with more average or lower house prices, given many families cannot afford the areas with higher house prices, they do not have the same choices. People are being put at a disadvantage due to their economic status regarding where they can send their children to school, which is relevant to their religious education.”
“This is about ensuring that parents, families and children who do not want to receive religious instruction are not put through that and are not denied their rights. The Minister said she has no targets. The previous Government had targets that it was nowhere near to meeting. The reason the Minister has no targets is that she wants to find out information, find out what the picture is and then act on it. Unfortunately, this is what has been said for years, with Government after Government saying they need to do surveys and find out what the picture is. At least the last Government had some level of targets. If there are no targets in an area and no level of ambition, then we have no ability to measure progress or hold to account the Minister and the Department regarding progress.”
“Then they are left with an impossible choice as to whether they remove their child from religious instruction. They are sitting at the back of the room and are excluded. What parent wants to have their child excluded or to have to go through religious instruction that is completely contrary to the parent's values and beliefs? I have been talking to parents in my constituency who say their child comes home having been taught things in religious instruction that they absolutely do not agree with. That is very distressing for parents and is not what they should be put through, given their belief systems. I have massive respect for people of all religions and people of no religion.”
“I am sharing time with a couple of colleagues. I thank my colleague, Jen Cummins, for all her work on this motion. I also acknowledge the huge work done by parents across the country who are campaigning to get an education without religious instruction for their child. Parents should not have to campaign to get the basics for their child. I thank the Minister for attending and for her contribution. She said parents choose the school they send their child to but, of course, many parents cannot choose the school for their child. I meet parents all the time in my constituency who wanted to send their child to a school without religious instruction but did not have that option. Numerous parents who are atheists have to send their children to religious schools.”
“The Tánaiste knows very well that international trade is not just about goods; it is also about services. Why are services not being included in the proposed legislation? There is no legal basis for excluding services. It is a key part of trade. That is the commitment the Tánaiste made during the election on the occupied territories Bill and trade. He did not exclude services. Why is he reneging on that promise now?”
“I put a couple of questions to the Tánaiste that he has not answered. The key issue is that EU humanitarian aid is not getting into Gaza because the actions that need to be taken by the international community to ensure it happens are not being taken. People in Gaza cannot wait any longer; they need action now. The Government must do everything it can to stop munitions going through Irish airspace. According to The Ditch , Israel's national carrier brought 1,500 kg of arms through Irish airspace last year labelling them as weapons in their paperwork. Have these reports been investigated? Why is the Government not acting to stop the illegal transfer of weapons through Irish airspace? With regard to the occupied territories Bill, I ask specifically about the inclusion of services.”
“Enacting legislation to ban trade from the occupied territories was a key commitment of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael during the election. Why is the Tánaiste dragging his feet on this? Why is he proposing to water down the Bill by excluding services?”