Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire
Cork South-Central · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“That is important and the Minister and I share that view, much as we disagree on how it is not right to get rid of the triple lock. We have made that very clear and we think there is scope to deploy on peacekeeping missions elsewhere.”
“As I probably will not get more questions and it is my last contribution before the recess, I wish to take the opportunity to thank the staff of this institution and the Ceann Comhairle's office, who serve us so well.”
“We have all probably been guilty of the offence of going over time at different stages, I am sure. Despite our disagreements in relation to the triple lock, I think the Minister and I agree that peacekeeping missions are important.”
“In the context of the previous question, I submitted another question that was ruled out of order, which is fair enough. I probably did not word my question as precisely as Deputy Gibney worded hers. I record my concern about legal representation in that regard. It is important to say that. This question relates to another welfare issue.”
“The Minister said that she is not pushing anybody to the courts. I am not a doctor and cannot make a clinical decision, but if people suffered negative health outcomes that they believe have a connection to their clinical exposure, and they have never taken a case, how precisely is the Government going to help them?”
“The Minister talks about the need to ensure that Defence Forces personnel have the ability to deploy internationally and are not prevented from participating in rescue missions. I have no problem at all with head No. 7. Actually, most of the legislation is fine. It is just head No.”
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“It is impossible to know where that situation will end up. It is impossible to know what President Trump will say next. What is clear, however, is that the direction of travel is towards tariffs. It is potentially towards at least a base tariff across the board for EU countries. From an Irish point of view, that leads to a number of questions. I believe Ireland has been left uniquely vulnerable by the policies of recent Governments and by their failure to invest in infrastructure, their over-reliance on tax incentives and their failure to diversify on who Irish businesses are doing business with. That needs to be addressed. In our view, what are the priorities? The first has to be dealing with the issue of tariff distortions. We are potentially in a very particular situation because of the North-South economy.”
“It is not by any manner or means ensuring aid is being reached by people and it is leading to death because of the chaos that is involved. The Taoiseach referenced the two-state solution conference, which is vital. I would also identify the ministerial conference in Bogotá next week, which is a conference in defence of international law. In the context of what is happening in the Middle East, it is vital that the Irish Government be represented there. Portugal will be there, and a number of other European countries are potentially going to be there. It is a crucially important conference, and I urge the Department to be in attendance. We have seen headlines in the last couple of days with regard to tariffs, and yet more pronouncements by President Trump in relation to maybe 200% on pharmaceuticals.”
“She has shown no moral character in how she has responded to what is happening in Gaza, from the genocide and human suffering to the potential famine situation it is facing it and, indeed, with regard to the aid situation. Some 80% of people who have been killed in Gaza in recent weeks died while they were queuing for food and aid. Kaja Kallas has given cover in the past to the Israeli Government for the demonisation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, and given political cover for it being excluded from the distribution of aid. That was used quite deliberately and consciously by the Israeli Government and the US in bringing forward this Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, GHF, model, which is leading to chaos.”
“A number of Deputies across all sides of the House have reflected on the role of the EU in what is going on in the Middle East. It is an extraordinary situation. The EU's response to what is happening in the Middle East is undoubtedly one of the darkest chapters in its 50-odd year history. It is an absolute blot upon it. It has been trying for years to negotiate the EU-Israel association agreement clause 2, which makes it clear that human rights have to be complied with. There is no doubt that clause 2 has been broken thousands of times over the last number of years and yet the EU's pathetic response is to delay a decision for a further month. It is simply not good enough, and it reflects a profound lack of leadership, including from von der Leyen. It is right and appropriate that there are questions over her leadership at this point.”
“Rachaidh mé tríd na hábhair faoi mar a bhí siad i ráiteas an Taoisigh. In the first instance, I will say again that we abhor the Russian Federation's criminal invasion of Ukraine. It is a war of aggression that has caused untold human suffering. It is very clear from the events of recent weeks that Vladmir Putin has no interest in peace and that he is using opportunities of discussion to stall and delay, all the while trying to strengthen his own position and that of Russia. In such a context, it is important that international pressure come to bear on Russia. Ireland must use its voice at diplomatic levels and in terms of humanitarian support to advocate on behalf of Ukraine and against Russian aggression, and in support of sanctions where appropriate and necessary.”
“They pay first in their taxes and then they pay for third level, for their GP, for accident and emergency visits, for their prescriptions and for their voluntary contributions. The policy of this Government and the governments that went before it is to constantly ask people to pay twice and that is a big part of the cost-of-living crisis. The Taoiseach talked earlier about the people who are being left behind. There are people who will, on foot of this decision, potentially be left behind. They were hoping to go to third level, to a university or a technological university, but they will not be able to now. The Government needs to reverse this decision because people are relying on it.”
“For the avoidance of any doubt, the cost-of-living crisis is far from over. It is far from over for the students in the Gallery. It is far from over for parents of students who are trying to figure things out. This is a huge decision for people, for parents trying to budget and for a lot of students who are trying to meet these costs themselves. Some are working one or two jobs trying to make sure they can pay the registration fee. This will decide whether some people have the chance to go to third level or not. We talk about the cost-of-living crisis and to some extent it is about supermarket prices and so on but it is also about the fact that this is a State that is constantly asking people to pay twice.”
“For a couple of days I really could not get my head around what the Government was at in relation to this. Was it some sort of internal politics between Departments, trying to bounce somebody into making an announcement? Was it sheer incompetence? I could not understand it. Why would the Government just walk into a problem that had not been on the horizon? Why would it create this stress and worry for parents? Then I remembered an article from a couple of weeks that I saw in the Irish Independent in which a Minister was quoted, anonymously, as saying that the budget would recognise that there is no longer a cost-of-living crisis and I thought, that is it, that explains it. That is fundamentally the issue here. There are Cabinet Ministers, I do not know who exactly, who think the cost-of-living crisis is over.”
“To be clear, the region and the wider world do not need more nuclear weapons. Ireland has led the way on this historically, and we do not want to see Iran possess nuclear weapons. Avoiding this requires a negotiated settlement of the kind that existed in the past and can exist again. We urge dialogue and de-escalation. We will have discussion on the occupied territories Bill but, in my view, there is no legal obstacle to the issue of services. There is a noble desire on the part of Irish people to assist and show solidarity. There are issues regarding solidarity trips to Ireland with visas, such as the Ireland GAA trip and the Lajee Center cultural association. I will correspond directly with the Minister to ensure they can be facilitated.”
“I know there is some talk about that at this moment but, as ever, things develop at the rate of hours and hope on the horizon can, unfortunately, be quickly extinguished. We hope for a ceasefire but it is important that we not simply frame what is happening in Gaza in the context of a humanitarian situation. We also need a political solution and it needs to be hinged on the two-state solution, something that is under severe pressure. I have spoken for longer than intended, but I will take this opportunity to thank our peacekeepers in Lebanon for their service. They are there under very difficult circumstances. To comment briefly on what is happening in Iran, it is very clear that what is required is dialogue, diplomacy and de-escalation. The attacks by Israel on Iran were reckless and dangerous and risked destabilising the entire region.”
“There is a difference between what happened under the aegis of UNRWA and the sort of puppet organisation that is currently providing aid, the chaos that ensues and the targeting of civilians on the back of that. Historically, by any legal or international standard aid should be beyond and above the fray, but that does not seem to be the case this moment in time. It is vitally important that the Government and other western governments continue to raise their voices. There are developments at this moment in time. It is important the Government is vocal on the two-state solution conference that is forthcoming. There is a proposal for a reconstruction conference hosted by Egypt. Reconstruction is a long way from where we are at the moment. We all hope for a ceasefire.”
“It is important that the people in Palestine and the Israeli Government hears western governments using such language. Israel needs to understand that it is completely beyond the Pale. Breaking international law does not even begin to cover it. It is breaking every kind of moral compass that one can imagine. That is the situation we are in. One of the primary issues is the weaponisation and deprivation of aid. There is plenty of food and medical care surrounding the Gaza Strip at this moment in time, but it is prevented from entering Gaza by a government that is determined to use food and aid as a weapon of war against a defenceless civilian population.”
“I do not know how people manage to live their lives against this backdrop, and manage to do the basic things that any family would need to do on any given day in terms of collecting food, making sure there is water and looking after somebody who is sick amid the chaos, rubble, carnage, slaughter and risk of death on a daily basis. I have put on the record in the past, and will do so again, my revulsion at the events of 7 October and the killing of innocent people. I deplore the taking of hostages and they need to be released. However, what has happened since then, in terms of proportionality, is that we are witnessing a genocide. I welcome the fact the Government has begun to use that language. It is strong language and should not be used lightly, but as it is absolutely valid in this instance.”
“Like most political representatives, one of the first things I do when I get up in the morning is to check the news headlines. It is a grim reality that on any given day for the past year and a half it is almost a certainty that we will wake up to fresh horrors from Gaza and Palestine. One could nearly set one's watch by it, it is that deplorably consistent in terms of the horrors we are seeing. Even today, I read that 40 have been killed overnight in Gaza. The relentless nature of the conflict is almost without precedent in the past 20 or 30 years. It is very difficult to think of anything comparable. There has been slaughter upon slaughter. In the past few days, children have been killed simply for collecting aid for their families.”
“We should be connecting the north of the city as well. It is an area that is often neglected in terms of infrastructure. Due to the way the Dublin Luas is set up, we imagine that such operations have to be run through private contractors. I do not believe so. I do not see any reason a public body should not be able to run the Cork Luas, and who better to do that than Iarnród Éireann? Clearly from the public point of view, it is the agency that could do it. That needs to be considered and is something I would support.”
“A lot of progress has been made and there is more to come. There will be decisions in the forthcoming period about electric carriages and where they will go. We want to make sure that they are everywhere. If they are delivered to Cork on time, it will ensure some of the new routes being talked about become viable at the frequencies that are necessary. I will briefly touch on the issue of a Luas for Cork. It is a vital piece of infrastructure. I welcome that we are now talking about it in real terms. We need to learn from the mistake in Dublin, where there were two routes that were not connected. We need to move the Cork plan from one route to two so that most of the city is served east to west and north to south. There is a gap for places like Douglas, Rochestown and into Carrigaline. They are big, populous areas with heavy traffic.”
“I support my colleague. I well understand why Waterford people might want to come to Cork. I do not think we should deprive them of that opportunity at all. Any time there is a debate on rail infrastructure, there is a fair bit of interest right across the country. That reflects a significant shift in people's mentality in the last 20 or 30 years. If we go back 50 or 60 years or even more recently, rail lines were still being closed. There has been a shift. It reflects that people want the opportunity to use rail and if it is there, they will take it. Anywhere rail lines have been reopened or new rail lines have been initiated, they have been a success. I acknowledge the work that has been done in Cork by Iarnród Éireann, led by A.J. Cronin's team, including Kieran Murphy and Stephen Hackett.”
“We have record homelessness, substantial increases in houses prices, substantial increases in rent and policies that are making things worse. There is a house for sale in Turner's Cross, very near where the Taoiseach is from for €385,000. It will almost certainly go for well in excess of €400,000. Just five years ago that house was €225,000 and five years before that it was €137,000. These houses are skyrocketing in price because of the Government's policies. Not only is the Government adding fuel to fire where the price of housing is concerned, it is removing protections. The fire is lit, the Government is adding petrol to it and it is removing the fireguard and the protections. It makes no sense and there is certainly no substance to it.”
“Very few of these solutions ever get taken on by the Government and even when they are, it is dragged kicking and screaming. It walks away from them as well. The tenant in situ scheme is the classic example. It is something that should have been done ten years ago but then where councils have gone to reach their targets, the Government has kicked the ladder away from them. I do not know what kind of confidence it is going to give to councils about reaching targets of any kind in future if they know they are going to be left on the hook. That is the reality. The Taoiseach talks about substance, but there is plenty of substance coming from this side. What I see from the other side are solutions that are not only not working but that are making things worse.”
“I will echo the points made by other Deputies because the Minister of State, like his ministerial colleagues, has come in here and talked about the need for the Opposition to bring forward solutions. I understand Ministers and Ministers of State need to put forward their narrative, but in truth they realise there is plenty of substance and detail. The Taoiseach loves that word; he loves to talk about "substance". Reams upon reams of potential solutions have come from this side ranging from broad, major schemes about how projects would be funded down to the technical and detailed in terms of boarded-up houses and how their repair might be properly funded. That includes how small and medium builders can be assisted with low credit finance to bring back derelict housing in our towns and cities.”
“People right across the State, not just in Cork, get frustrated and feel that so many things do not work. Buses are almost the perfect symptom. Before I came down, I searched for the words "bus" and "Cork" in my emails. I just picked out two examples, because there are dozens if not hundreds. People indicated that they finish work at 5 p.m. and that what should be a 15-minute drive takes them an hour and ten minutes to complete every day. I was also informed that buses went missing three times in a row over the course of three consecutive days. This is happening constantly. Our buses need to be resourced with staff in order to resolve that.”
“If there is going to be a Luas in Cork - and we all want there to be one - the timescale imagined is far too slow. It looks like it could be more than a decade before it begins to carry passengers. The matter needs to be expedited. We also need to ensure that Cork Airport is connected. We need to ensure that there are at least two routes connecting with each other and that we are not left trying to join things up afterwards. It makes absolute sense that it will connect the whole city because there are areas of heavy traffic in Douglas, Carrigaline and on the north side of the city. My colleague Deputy Gould has been vocal on this. That aspect also needs to be expedited. That is for the medium to long term, and I hope it is expedited. In the short term, we need to get our basic bus system working.”
“I thank the proposer of the motion. It is an important debate. Sinn Féin is ambitious for public transport, particularly in Cork. It is an area that has been the subject of a lot of attention recently. It has been a priority for us because we recognise that for Cork to be the fastest-growing city in the State, we cannot simply rely on more and more people getting into their cars. We need a 21st century transport system. There are number of elements to that. The first, in the context of the proposal, is the Luas. That is something we welcome. We have been calling for it proactively in recent years. Regarding what has been announced for the single route, we believe lessons need to be learned from the approach that was taken in Dublin.”
“More importantly, the Government pulled the rug from under those people who could now be in a council tenancy. Instead, they are in emergency accommodation. That is the reality of it; the Government's policy is doubling down on the bits that do not work and is casting aside protections. The Government has thrown fuel on the fire and now it is ripping out the fireguard. That is the reality of the situation - record rents, record homelessness and record house prices. It is all going in the wrong direction.”
“In fact, the vast majority of measures the Government took that we welcomed were ones it had to be coaxed, cajoled and dragged into, and then it ended up resiling from them in any event. Look at the tenant in situ scheme. I know the Minister will respond that the tenant in situ scheme is not closed off and so on. We hear Government Ministers saying they are only targets but this is a classic example of where councils meet targets and are left hanging. This Chamber could have been filled with people from Cork city alone who were prevented from becoming homeless by the tenant in situ scheme, but because the Government is not funding it properly, people have ended up homeless. I know and have met people in my clinic whose homes were sale agreed with the Cork City Council until the Government pulled the rug from under it.”
“One of the things that people cannot get their heads around regarding the housing crisis is how an issue can be top of the political agenda for so long but everything is still going in the wrong direction. How can it be the case that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in government for so long and the crisis has escalated and escalated? We are here discussing a set of emergency measures that are needed. "Emergency" is a word and words matter. They represent a situation. What is fundamental is that neither this Government nor the previous Government have treated the housing crisis as an emergency. They have treated other policy areas as emergencies. We know the capacity exists to respond to issues in an emergency manner but the housing crisis has never been treated as an emergency.”
“I would welcome the opportunity to have a briefing with the Minister and some of his officials, but, equally, it would hardly be appropriate if it was simply Members of this House who had that opportunity. There are representative organisations, such as the Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors organisation and potentially others. It would be only right that at some stage in this process they would have the opportunity to have an engagement.”
“That is in the area we need to be looking at. There are potentially more things than that, but that is one of the crucial areas. It is not only the case here that other sectors or categories of people have had wrongs inflicted on them and sometimes it is difficult to put them all through the courts for a variety of reasons, but it has also been the case internationally. I have raised previously with the Minister some of the responses in Australia and the Netherlands in the context of aircraft maintenance personnel. The self-same issue has arisen elsewhere and it has been on the healthcare side of things. Regarding what the Minister said about exploring options, I have two questions. What kind of timescale are we looking at?”
“In terms of what we should be looking at, this seems clear to me. There are things that need to be worked up, but one of the most fundamental things is a health review and analysis of health outcomes. Related to that, it must be ensured that people are not out of pocket as a result of the healthcare situations they have found themselves in.”
“On that point, while I understand there are restrictions on what the Minister can respond to me on, a former personnel member who was a part of aircraft maintenance said there was no current active engagement between the State Claims Agency and litigants despite what the Minister had claimed in the Dáil the previous week. The former personnel member stated that nobody from the State Claims Agency had talked to any survivors since before the recent settlement of a particular case. I ask the Minister to take that information away. I know there are limits on what he can say in response to me, but I ask him to take this information with him and put it to the State Claims Agency that there is not engagement. Aside from that, I am glad to hear what the Minister said in respect of options being looked at.”
“This question relates to issues relating to the safety measures, or lack thereof, that potentially existed in terms of Air Corps aircraft maintenance personnel over the course of recent decades. We spoke about two broad areas during our last discussion. One was the court-related issues. I flag that in response to the points the Minister made last time, several people have told me the engagement with the State Claims Agency is not anything like it should be. Even separate to that, there is the need for a policy-oriented response from the Department.”
“That does create a difficulty, if a Government is so motivated to deploy troops and it is being asked to evaluate. I understand the arguments the Tánaiste has made about the UN Security Council. It seems to me that it is a sovereign act by a sovereign Parliament to decide that this is the threshold. We have decided that this is the test. The Parliament here sets tests for numerous areas of public policy. Sometimes we ask other organisations to do that. We asked the Low Pay Commission to set tests as to an appropriate method of determining low pay. We do ask outside bodies at times where we trust that they have a certain standard to be an arbiter. The Government is going to be an arbiter. That is fundamentally what is proposed in the legislation.”
“We will have a fair few engagements on this. I am not all that convinced there was a lack of clarity, but if there was a necessity for clarification on humanitarian evacuation, drug interception or rescue of civilians, the Government should just legislate for that. That is my suggestion. As far as the Irish people are concerned, we do peacekeeping with the UN. The UN is not perfect but we do peacekeeping with it. We do not do peacekeeping with NATO or other organisations. That is the standard that offers us the highest level of international law, of confidence. One of the bases on which Irish troops can be deployed is that of strengthening international security. I am sure the Tánaiste will agree that is very broad. Can he tell us a bit more about what he has in mind?”
“Has the Minister any concerns regarding the implications of this for helicopter emergency medical service support, particularly on the west coast and Shannon?”
“Local bargaining seems to be the solution to a lot of things and I am not sure how far that 1% is going to stretch to fix all of those issues. It seems to me that this was allowed to get beyond the eleventh hour before it was addressed. This is in the context of people talking about the need to take issues around defence seriously, yet it was allowed to escalate to the position of the national airfield functioning nine to five, and struggling to do so, as far as I understand. At what stage does the Minister believe full cover will be restored such that aircraft will be able to land outside the hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.? There is a potential issue in the medium run with regard to the EU Presidency and the need for defence cover for Heads of State arriving here and so on.”
“In addition, he and others flagged that this issue has been brought to the attention of the Air Corps, of the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces more generally for some time now. When was the first recommendation made to the Government regarding a service level commitment for air traffic controllers?”
“A couple of issues were raised there. We discussed the issue of service commitment levels in our last session. It reflects the fact that this is an issue across a number of areas in the Defence Forces for specialist personnel. There is severe competition with the private sector. It appears to have hit a particular pinch point in Baldonnel. This is the home of the Air Corps. It is the most important military aerospace facility in the State and it is, in effect, operating nine to five. Former TD Cathal Berry, our erstwhile colleague, identified this as a perfect example of a single point of failure with the potential to cause the entire operation to end. The entire basis of functioning of the Air Corps is challenged by this.”
“There is a great deal of concern at the moment regarding the situation at Baldonnel. The recent departure of some air traffic control personnel is resulting in a significant reduction in the capacity of Baldonnel, with consequent significant implications for Government aircraft and Air Corps aircraft and, more widely, for sea rescue and so on. I am seeking an update on the situation and how the Minister intends to resolve it.”
“The Minister insists on technical arguments, but I have not heard him say whether or not it is desirable. I have not heard him say that if he could do it, he would do it. I want to hear that from the Minister, because if he can do it technically, then he should do it. Unfortunately, I suspect that the Minister has concluded that politically, he cannot or will not do so. On that, he is absolutely wrong.”
“I do not suggest that for one second, but the point of realising that is to ask whether we are using all the levers we can and taking all the actions we can. What is not in dispute, or at least as I understand it, is that these bonds are being facilitated by the Central Bank. What is not in dispute is that Israel is openly advertising the sale of these bonds to fund what it calls a war effort. In our view, it is funding the arms and munitions and everything else that goes towards the genocide that is happening. This is not in dispute. The Minister has used technical arguments and, to be honest, I am sceptical on the basis of the OPLA and what Deputy Doherty and the Attorney General have outlined. Very often, when politics dictate it, legal grounds can shift. We saw this recently with the rent pressure zones, RPZ.”
“What is happening in Gaza now is undoubtedly genocide and I welcome the fact the Government is now using that language. This is the position of the Government as articulated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and it is important to remember that. In my lifetime, I cannot remember such scenes as we are witnessing in Gaza. Children are being left without families and children are being killed in their tens of thousands. People are starving while the Gaza Strip is surrounded by aid convoys that want to get in but are prevented from doing so. These are the most appalling war crimes. This is language the Minister has used. I do not doubt the Minister finds these things appalling.”
“The message from Ministers seems to be, "Look, spend the money and it'll be sorted afterwards". Look at what happened with the tenant in situ scheme. Is this not a fine lesson for councils? If they spend the money and the Department decides to change its mind later on, the ladder will be kicked out from under them. That is the lesson.”
“There are dozens of council engineers listening in who are laughing and thinking, "Chance would be a fine thing to get planned maintenance". Forget about it. It is just not happening. My constituents are walking past houses every day - two or three very often on streets congregated together in places like Mahon, Ballyphehane, Togher and Greenmount. There are 99 properties in Cork city that have been idle for more than two years. It is a dagger to their heart to walk past these houses. These people have been on the housing list for nine or ten years or might not even have qualified for social housing. They are living in desperate housing conditions and are walking past these idle units. It is a disgrace. My next comment is for the Minister of State to bring back to his officials. Councils have to go cap in hand to the Department.”
“We just had statements on the report of the Housing Commission. We hear all sorts of arguments about how this is complicated, we need to do this and how there are multiple factors at play. We are talking about 2,500 apartments and houses that the State already owns. They are there. They are empty. Of all the low-hanging fruit in terms of the housing crisis, surely the 2,500 houses and flats the State already owns should be first and foremost. Other people have given examples of constituents living in overcrowded accommodation with three generations under one roof, many of them in seriously overcrowded accommodation, people sleeping on couches and people living in poor-quality rental accommodation and poor-quality local authority accommodation. The Minister of State spoke about planned maintenance.”
“Yes, of course the international community, through the UN General Assembly, has to stand up and be counted and do whatever is necessary to ensure food and aid get into Gaza and people do not starve and die unnecessarily because they cannot get the medical treatment they need.”
“What has got through since international pressure has increased has been described as a teaspoon by António Guterres and as a drop in the bucket by the UN World Food Programme. There are countless amounts of food outside the borders. I also highlight the weaponising of aid by the Israeli Government and, indeed, the US Administration through the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. If we look at the kinds of things being talked about, including this organisation talking about people coming into compounds, it is not hard to see the echoes from our own history. Aid is being weaponised in the most terrible way and people are starving on account of it.”
“If the genocide in Gaza looks different from what happened in Rwanda, it is because instead of a decentralised, inchoate genocide with machetes and terrible things, it is a powerful, wealthy state using all of its resources and technology to rain down death, misery and suffering. It is essential that Ireland uses its voice to the greatest extent possible at the international level. The motion centres on the issue of aid because people are starving at this point. Fifty-seven children have been reported dead from malnutrition in Gaza as of 13 May. That is two weeks ago. It is likely others have died and many more will follow. The Israeli Government's denial of aid is deliberate. It will lead to famine if it continues.”
“We see aerial maps of the cities, towns and camps from two or three years ago and what they are reduced to now. Whatever about the rubble and buildings, however, it is about the people of Gaza. I made the point last week that the word "genocide" is a very loaded and heavy word. It should not be used lightly. How can one escape the conclusion that there is a deliberate attempt to destroy Gaza and eliminate the ability of the people of Gaza to live as a people? That is my opinion. I think of the most recent major allegation of genocide in my lifetime, which was in Rwanda. The international consensus now, and then, was that the international community stood by and watched it happen. I fear and believe the same thing is happening here. The international community is failing.”
“I thank Labour Party and Deputy Duncan Smith for bringing this motion forward. I apologise to Deputy Smith that I cannot stay for the conclusion of the debate due to commitments at home. I listened intently to the Tánaiste's contribution and read it. One line reads, "If there is to be a two-state solution there must be two states". I believe in a two-state solution. Not everyone in this Chamber does but there must be two states. It is hard to look at the situation and not wonder what will be left. What will be left of the West Bank? We should not forget the West Bank is being whittled away. There are attacks, human rights abuses and issues with aid there. Gaza is completely destroyed. It is more than demolished; it is incinerated.”
“We have seen leaked Attorney General advice that says this is a policy choice, much as the occupied territories Bill was a policy choice. That policy choice is in front of the Minister and there are things he and the Government can do. The whole basis of the International Court of Justice decision, which underpinned the occupied territories Bill and which forms the legal basis for this, is that the occupation is illegal and sanctions have to happen. Otherwise, Israel will keep acting with impunity. The Government can do something about that. It can stop Israel. To some extent, we need the rest of the world to act but in terms of what Ireland can do, this is how it can act to ensure that Israel does not continue to act with impunity and that there are sanctions.”