Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire, who happens to be the target today. This is not aimed at the Minister personally, but the fine, well-meaning words she read out are hollow. Genocide is happening as we speak and has been happening for a long time. There has been no proper action which the Israeli state will pay heed to. It has ignored every supposed protestation by the Irish Government and other European Governments. We need to take action, which is one reason the Bill is before the House today. It is not the only reason, however. This Government and previous Governments have failed miserably to take action over the years as the Israeli state flouted international law. In 2004, I asked a simple question of then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen. I asked whether he would use the EU Presidency to propose a suspension of preferential trade with Israel on the basis of persistent and systematic human rights violations. Here we are, 22 years later, and I am still appealing to the Government to ensure the EU does exactly what it says in the tin. Any preferential trade agreement or neighbourhood agreement with Israel, or, for that matter, any other country that is abusing international norms and human rights or engaged in slaughter and genocide, should be suspended immediately. Sanctions then need to be imposed where that continues. We have not done that. The EU was very quick to jump through hoops to impose sanctions on Russia. Israel's slaughter has been a lot worse than what Russia has done in Ukraine. That is not to say the Russians are right in any way. We were right to impose sanctions on Russia but we would be right to impose sanctions on Israel. It should have been done a long time ago. If this Government and other European Governments had paid heed to the calls made 20 years ago, maybe, God willing, Israel's ongoing slaughter in Gaza and Palestine, Lebanon and Iran would not have happened. Governments did not do so, however. By ignoring the rules in place in those trade agreements, rather than imposing those rules and suspending the agreements, we sent out a message to Israel that it is okay to carry on as it is not going to be punished. Israel was not punished and is still not being punished. There is still nobody in the EU, other than those countries that have had the strength to stand up and impose sanctions, punishing Israel for what it is doing in Palestine. We need to look at what we can do here in Ireland. We need to have cultural, university and sporting boycotts of Israel. I will come back to some of those in a minute. The University of Galway needs to cut its links to the Technion Institute of Technology, the university that refers to itself as a research and development wing of the IDF. What in God's name is any Irish university doing having any types of links with an Israeli university in this day and age, especially given that university's links with the IDF? Let us not forget the University of Galway is a public body. It needs to cut all ties with Israel. The message should go out, not just from the Opposition benches but from the Government, that all universities should cut ties with those involved in genocide. It is pure and simple. This week, I published a Bill, titled the Comptroller and Auditor General (Due Diligence Complicity Audit) (Amendment) Bill 2026, to give effect to our obligations under international law to audit all of our cultural, diplomatic, economic, financial, political and military relations with Israel to ensure we are not contributing or otherwise assisting Israel's serious violations of international law. That Bill needs to be passed. I should not need to come in here to move it; this should have been a given. The Government should have immediately acted on that. This is not a call by me; it is a call by international lawyers and the International Criminal Court. They are the duties we have when we know a genocide is happening, yet it is the likes of me, Deputy Boyd Barrett or Senator Black and others who are continually trying to appeal to the Government through legislation, questions and other debates to do the right thing, to stand up and be counted. The Government has not even joined the Hague Group which is also taking action. Ireland has not stood up, as Spain has stood up, yet it goes around the world saying how great we are in terms of Palestine. Yes, we are better than some other countries but we are a lot worse than others because we have identified the issues and the stances we can take, yet the Government has failed to take them and that is on the Minister. That is why we need to take the actions in this Bill and other Bills. We need to be seen to act, not just talk, because by the time the European Union will act, the Palestinian people will be flung to the far corners of the world. That is the intention of the Israelis. They intend the clearances, as happened in Scotland and parts of Ireland. They want to ensure there is no Palestinian population left in Palestine. That is the intention. We have seen and heard it. We have seen the maps and the actions of the Israeli Government and we need to stand up and stand on the right side of this. We need to stand up and be counted and stand against the genocide that is happening in Palestine, and of late in Lebanon. We need to ensure those involved in those actions are punished correctly. It is appropriate that this is the eve of the anniversary of the Nakba. We need to ensure we will not stand by and allow Israel to slaughter all around it and exile and displace hundreds of thousands or millions more Palestinians. We should stand proud. There are brilliant people in civil society in Ireland who have taken action, who are marching day in and day out, picketing and organising events and meetings, but they have been let down by the Government, which has made promises and has not lived up to those promises. I hope people will join us again this Saturday in Dublin at 1 p.m. at another march to mark Nakba day and stand in solidarity with those who have endured the slaughter by the Israelis, not only in recent years, but for generations at this stage. I support this Bill. I support the intentions of the BDS movement. We need to act and there should be no prevarication on this.

Sentiment score: -0.01

Tá an vótáil curtha siar go dtí an tseachtain seo chugainn i gcomhréir le Buan-Ordú 85(2).

Sentiment score: 0.00