Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Táim ag díriú isteach, a Thánaiste, ar an gcinedhíothú atá ag tarlú. Agus muidne i mbun cainte, tá cinedhíothú ar mhuintir na Palaistíne ar siúl. Táimid ag fáil na mílte aighneachtaí, gach Teachta Dála anseo, ag cur brú orainne ceannaireacht a thaispeáint agus rud a dhéanamh de réir ár mbriathar. There are many things I would like to engage with the Tánaiste on today but the ongoing genocide is uppermost in my mind, our colleagues' minds and, more importantly, in the thousands of emails that we are getting imploring us to do something in addition to our sweet words. There is total disregard of international law by Netanyahu, the Israeli Government and its army. This is a body of international law that was developed to ensure that the very slaughter we are witnessing would never happen again, yet we are seeing scenes of horror and destruction in Palestine that were described by the UN rapporteur this morning and by an Irish doctor yesterday. In the past three days, we have seen the ceasefire ended unilaterally by Israel and an invasion by air and land. There are bombs dropping on defenceless civilians. We do not know the figure, but it is ranging up to 1,000 persons, 70% of whom are women and children. Of course, we have been told by the UN rapporteur that that is the ratio since the day Israel started its genocide. This is despite Israel being under a legal obligation by the highest court in the world to dismantle the occupation by the end of this year. We are not seeing that but an escalation in the violence and the genocide and we are openly informed that they are back to finish the job, back to ensure that no Palestinians will be left on Palestinian land. The people who are there are surviving among the dead bodies of their families and their people. There is no water, no energy, no hospitals and they are being starved to death, and we talk. What is Ireland doing? Along with our sweet words, we are actively colluding with genocide and with the slaughter of innocent people.
Sentiment score: -0.08
I know it is difficult for the Tánaiste to hear this and I ask him to please not waste his reply, if he could, in telling me how grateful the Palestinian people are to us. I know that he is going to tell me that because I have been told it repeatedly. Of course they are grateful and of course we should be proud that we recognise Palestine. That is the bare minimum we should be doing faced with a genocide.
Sentiment score: 0.34
What we could do is end the military use of Shannon Airport. At the very least use the legislative powers that are there to stop the transit of arms being reported on a regular basis by The Ditch. During the previous Government, Eamon Ryan told us there would be an inspection regime. I understand that is gone by the way. The leader of the Labour Party has welcomed the occupied territories Bill. I also welcome it, but I do not trust the Government parties. I absolutely do not trust them on the occupied territories Bill.
Sentiment score: 0.02
They could stop the trade agreement that Europe has with Israel. They could end the Central Bank issuing war bonds, and the Tánaiste might explain about the American Jewish committee that the Taoiseach met in America about the next steps of agreement. Please clarify that.
Sentiment score: 0.13
I would prefer to stay in silence at the Tánaiste's failure to respond-----
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-----in recognition of the genocide that is taking place in our name.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The words the Tánaiste is not using are "genocide in our name".
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The Tánaiste has refused to condemn the genocide. He has refused to condemn Trump and the American Government for fully backing genocide. We have called out Russia for its illegal invasion. We have supported the Tánaiste on that, and he has utterly failed to call out what Israel is doing. They are ignoring all international law. They are committing genocide in our name while he talks about silly words-----
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-----in our name.
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Thank you, Leas-Ceann Comhairle.
Sentiment score: 0.36
Stop using Shannon Airport to carry destructive weapons. Enact the occupied territories Bill immediately. Stop trade with Israel. End the export of dual-use products.
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The interruptions by all of the Government Members are a measure of their absolute absence of realisation of what is happening on the ground. It is easier to join in with a Tánaiste who is utterly failing to answer the questions. Can he please go back to the committee that the Taoiseach met when he was in America-----
Sentiment score: 0.01
Commitments were given, and it was reported in the paper that agreement was made-----
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I was interrupted.
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Thank you for that. I appreciate it. What was agreed and what commitments were made?
Sentiment score: 0.38