Ar dtús báire ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón féin agus comhbhrón Shinn Féin a chur in iúl do mhuintir na Palaistíne i ndiaidh an tslada uafásach a rinneadh orthu inné. Caithfidh an Rialtas gníomhú agus ba chóir dó ambasadóir Iosrael a dhíbirt ón tír agus aitheantas a thabhairt do stát na Palaistíne.

What happened in Gaza yesterday was a massacre. There is no other way to describe it. Anybody who witnessed the scenes on television or read of the terrible atrocity that happened there will agree. Live ammunition and tear gas were used against unarmed Palestinians who were demanding their right to return to the homes and villages they were expelled from in 1948. We now know that 58 people have been killed as a result of the actions of the Israeli forces, including six children, and 2,700 have been injured. It is shameful. On behalf of Sinn Féin, I wholeheartedly condemn the brutal and violent actions of the Israeli forces and I extend our solidarity to the Palestinian people at this time. Tá siad inár smaointe agus inár bpaidreacha ag an am seo.

The actions of Israel are undermining efforts to secure a sustainable and peaceful two-state solution and must be urgently challenged by the international community. Without sanction and without adequate diplomatic response, I fear more innocent civilians will be killed in the coming days. It is long past time that the international community, including the European Union, acted in this case. We see the ongoing Israeli aggression against and oppression of people who are defending their rights, the people of Palestine. The onus is not just on the international community but also on the Government to respond robustly. I understand the Tánaiste met with the Israeli ambassador this morning and urged restraint. Words are not enough. We need action and the Tánaiste should have told the Israeli ambassador it was time to pack his bags because there can be no impunity for Israeli's mass killings of Palestinian civilians and its continued illegal occupation of their territory.

In response to a British security assessment delivered to the Government by Boris Johnson that Russia was involved in the Salisbury attack in March, the Government acted quickly and expelled a Russian diplomat. We need an even more robust response in this scenario. Will the Government move to expel the Israeli ambassador to Ireland in response to these murders and the flagrant disregard of international law or will it turn a blind eye? Will the Taoiseach also recall the Irish ambassador to Israel in protest?

The Palestinian people need our solidarity now more than ever. This could be one of the bloodiest episodes we have ever witnessed if we continue to stand idly by. The Government must take action. It must also recognise the state of Palestine. A motion tabled by this party in 2014 received unanimous support. It similarly happened in the Seanad. Despite a commitment in the programme for Government, the Government has dragged its heels on the issue. I urge the Government at this critical time to make a stand for peace and progress in the Middle East, recognise the state of Palestine and expel the Israeli ambassador.

I will touch briefly on the previous question because it is pertinent and deserves an answer. The HSE is an enormous organisation with a €16 billion budget, 110,000 employees and 2 million patients. It is too big and it needs to be slimmed down and broken up and that is what the Government will do now following on from the recommendations of the Sláintecare report. It will slim down the HSE, put in place a board and establish local and regional autonomy around the CHOs.

To explain it to people interested in knowing answers to the questions they ask, CervicalCheck is-----

With respect, Ceann Comhairle, there has been an absolute onslaught against the people of Palestine.

I will answer both questions.

I expect a response to the question.

If I am not interrupted I can answer both questions.

It is completely disrespectful.

It shows his attitude to the Palestinian people.

CervicalCheck is a subdivision of the National Cancer Screening Service-----

It is not acceptable.

-----which is a subdivision of the National Cancer Control Programme which is a subdivision of the health and well-being section-----

This is simply not acceptable.

He cannot ignore a question.

-----of the HSE. I met the head of the health and well-being section of the HSE every two months.

This is a disgrace.

It is disrespectful.

The rules are that we deal with each question and conclude it and move on to the next question.

Will the Ceann Comhairle reset the clock?

In fairness to Deputy Doherty, he is entitled to-----

Reset the clock.

We will reset the clock.

Reset the clock.

Deputy Doherty is entitled to the same time.

The Taoiseach should let his spin doctors out.

On behalf of the Government, I want to say we are profoundly shocked at the death toll and scale of injuries that have been inflicted by Israeli forces on Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza.

This morning the Tánaiste summoned the Israeli ambassador to Iveagh House to express the Government's and the people's outrage and dismay at these events, including the number of people who have been killed and injured, and directly request that there be an independent international investigation into what happened, as called for by the UN Secretary General. Any country is entitled to defend its borders, but the use of force must be proportionate to the real threat posed. The protests may not have been 100% peaceful, but there is no indication that the scale of the threat could have justified such violence and so many deaths. In our view, live ammunition is not a tool to be used for crowd control; therefore, Ireland fully supports the UN Secretary General's call for an independent international investigation. It must examine the fatal decision to use live ammunition which led to so many deaths and injuries, including the deaths of children.

The blockade of Gaza which has gone on for over a decade is inhumane, a recipe for disaster and must end. Young people in Gaza have no prospect of ever leaving the tiny strip of land on which they are imprisoned and cannot even travel to the West Bank to study, visit relatives, work or engage in any normal activity. Ireland is very conscious of the difficulties faced by the people of Gaza. For this reason, the Tánaiste has made engagement with the Middle East process a priority. He will travel to Jerusalem in the coming months.

As the Tánaiste said, we profoundly disagree with the United States' decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city shared by two communities and is important to many faiths. No decisions on where embassies should be located should be made until there is a peaceful resolution of the conflict there. As a result, Ireland's embassy will remain in Tel Aviv, in line with international law and compliance with UN Security Council resolutions on the issue, in particular Resolution 478, by which we call on others to abide.

The Government will not be expelling the ambassador at this time. Ireland has not expelled an ambassador in recent decades, if ever. That is not the way we believe we should engage with other states.

What would it take?

If we were to expel Israel's ambassador, Israel would expel ours. As far as Israel is concerned, Ireland would be taken off the map and as far as Ireland is concerned, Israel would be taken off the map.

We should withdraw our ambassador.

There would be no engagement. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade called in the ambassador of Israel this morning and told him exactly what the Government and the people thought about what was happening in Gaza. He told him about our objections to it and where we stood. If we had expelled him, that would not have been possible.

He would have got the message.

The Taoiseach's response was very disrespectful to my question and the topic, which concerns the onslaught the Palestinian people are going through and what happened yesterday. The Taoiseach mentioned the UN resolution and referred to an independent investigation, but the United States has already vetoed it. It has made it very clear that it is in support of Israel in this case. None of the actions I have asked the Taoiseach to take would be for the sake of it. If Israel continues to act with impunity, we will continue in the weeks ahead to see carnage as we witnessed on our television screens yesterday. It is time for countries to make a stand. As the Government made a stand in the case of a Russian diplomat, what will it take for it to state "No more"? What will it take for this proud country to take a stand, as an independent country, by telling the Israeli ambassador that it is time to pack his bags?

This did not just happen yesterday. Israel enforces apartheid in the state of Palestine.

The Deputy's time is up.

I will finish on this point. For the past seven weeks soldiers have been killing innocent civilians with impunity. Since 30 March, Israeli forces have killed at least 109 Palestinian civilians in Gaza and injured 12,000 people. The time for talking is over.

It is. The Deputy's time is up.

The stock response from the Taoiseach, to the effect that the Tánaiste had called in the Israeli ambassador, does not meet the scale of what happened in Palestine yesterday.

Hear, hear.

It is time to expel the ambassador and recall ours and do what the people of Ireland are asking the Taoiseach to do. It is what the programme for Government states the Government would do and what all-party motions, in this House and the Seanad, stated the Taoiseach should do - to get to his feet and recognise the state of Palestine in order to express solidarity with the people who are facing an onslaught by Israeli forces at this time.

Hear, hear.

The Deputy accused the Taoiseach at the start of disrespect. He is disrespecting the House by ignoring the time provided for these questions.

Hear, hear.

They are all doing it.

I am afraid he is doing it far more so.

My first bit was trying to-----

Respect works both ways Deputy.

I was forced to spend the first part of my contribution dealing with the issue.

Our view as a Government is that we solve conflict through dialogue. Dialogue requires engagement and requires an interlocutor. In this country, just over 20 years ago, it was necessary to engage in dialogue with terrorists in order to bring about peace on this island. That had to be done and it was the right thing to do. We believe, and I think Sinn Féin would understand this, that sometimes you need to engage with violent people to bring about peace.

Sometimes you needs to expel diplomats.

You had your own way of doing that.

For these reasons, we will not be recalling the Irish ambassador or expelling the Israeli ambassador. We will continue to engage with Israel and Palestine and try to be part of a future peace process. We will also act through the United Nations. We have given our support to the UN Secretary General in his call for an independent investigation into this matter. I will attend the EU Council in Sophia tomorrow and the next day, and I am absolutely sure it will be a topic of discussion among the Heads of Government and State.

Recognition of the state of Palestine.

I will be putting across the views of the Irish Government and Irish people very strongly at the summit over the next two days.

The programme for Government commits the Government to recognising Palestine as a state as part of a two-state peace solution, and we stand over that Government commitment, but we do not yet have a peaceful solution.

The motion of the House did not qualify it.