Gabhaim buíochas le gach duine a bhí ag caint inniu ar son an Bhille seo, agus i gcomparáid leis sin, gach duine a bhí ag labhairt faoi na rudaí atáimid tar éis a dhéanamh ar son na Palaistínigh. Tá mise ag iarraidh labhairt chun a bheith cinnte go dtuigeann an tAire nach bhfuil an méid ama atá caite againn ag déanamh athruithe don Bhille atá an Seanadóir Black tar éis obair na gcapall a dhéanamh air maith go leor. I am supporting this Government as an independent. I said multiple times that it is how I believe I can be as effective as possible. The programme for Government that I signed up to stated that it would: Progress legislation prohibiting goods from Occupied Palestinian Territories following the July 2024 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion. Continue to oppose and condemn Hamas and other groups which bring terror [...]. Support UNRWA and advocate within Europe for increased support. Work with partners in the EU to introduce further sanctions against [Israeli] settler activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That is what we signed up to but that is not the case and I do believe that there is clearly a delay. We need to pass the occupied territories Bill in respect of goods and services on which Senator Frances Black has been working with her team. I have met her team and got the legal advice that it would withstand a challenge. When this Bill is being pushed down, we are constantly told that it would not. People, including lawyers and other professionals, came into our audiovisual room and said that it would withstand scrutiny. Even if it does not, do we not have that guts to show it and send it because the point is that we are doing everything we can? I wish that the Minister had not left. There is a Palestinian in my constituency named Amir whose family is still in Gaza. I met him here. I have met him multiple times. How could I look him in the eye and say that I am not doing everything that I can? He is gorgeous man and his family are gorgeous. I have spoken to them. I have spoken to those in the foster house in which he lives. As for the Palestinian groups across Ireland, we have a clear mandate. I want to thank all the Palestinian advocacy groups and everyone who has relentlessly pushed and pushed but we have to give them something. I recognise the investments in care and State aid that we have given but we need to do this now. A friend of mine named Mikey Cullen is currently on the flotilla bringing aid and food and trying to break that illegal siege on Gaza. I have spoken on FaceTime while on one of those flotillas to young children who were delighted to see that the West is listening to them, only for us to be illegally abducted and brutalised. I saw one of my colleagues on the boat getting rammed, thrown on the ground and spat at by Israelis. This Bill is not anti-Israel. It not anti-Jewish. We had Israelis on the flotilla with us who were not happy with what the regime was doing. This Bill is anti-genocide and anti-bombing of children. It is showing them that we are standing up to them and doing everything we can. Ireland's power has not been its size or great military. I welcome the work that has been done at an EU level in getting the coalition of like-minded countries, but looking at Spain, Slovenia and the countries that have brought in legislative changes that we were talking to in those negotiations in the EU, why can we not take a leaf out of their books? While I was on the flotilla, Eleanor Lanigan, who was there because she was working for me as my PA, came to the initial call when she had stage 4 cancer. She wanted to get on the flotilla and said, "Feck it, I am dying anyway". I said that, no, she had to go back. These men and women who are constantly campaigning, of all ages, genders and walks of life, are showing us up in here. We have seen the reports and the International Court of Justice. It is clear that we cannot pretend we do not have a role here. That is why I support this Bill. It does not break ties or shut down dialogue or diplomacy. What it does is very simple: it says that Ireland will not allow our money, our trade or what our country generates to fuel something the world knows is wrong. How many UN reports and independent reports have shown that this has been happening? We have been here before. I welcome the contribution by Deputy Gibney about what we did on apartheid in South Africa. We were ahead then. We are behind now, but it is not too late for us to catch up and run with the other people who are taking a stand. I spoke to Farid, a Palestinian refugee, on the phone last night and asked him about it. I told him to watch this tonight, and he said I should come in here and tell the Government to do it. Now, he does not understand. He is a lot more eager than I would be. He is an amazing man. With everything he has been through, he still has a smile on his face and is still proud of his country in the way he speaks and the photos he has shown me, but they are clinging to rubble now. To the people who say sanctions will not make a difference, doing nothing will not make a difference but sanctions will. Ireland's voice matters. When a group of small nations take a stand, history has shown that the big ones will follow. Regarding the Bill and the emails I have been getting saying it is antisemitic and that I am antisemitic, I am not antisemitic. I am anti-starvation and anti using famine as a war tool. I am anti breaking every international law, and I am anti illegally abducting Irish citizens off the coast of an EU country and beating them. To the Israeli families who want peace and who have reached out to me, we hear you; the people of Ireland hear you and we want peace. To the Palestinian families, to Milad's mother, we are watching. I hope Milad is watching now. Ireland's strength has never been its size, but our courage. The Minister of State has heard this a thousand times, but the same people who brutally abused our ancestors went over and did the same there. That regime is still in place. We have an international obligation to act when we know what is happening. The Geneva Convention did not fall out of the sky. It is time to be brave. It is time to do something and allow a free vote on this Bill.

Sentiment score: 0.09