The International Criminal Court has sought arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister and defence minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the crime of deliberately starving the people of Gaza, blocking aid to them and wilfully killing ordinary people. This comes on top of the indictment for plausible genocide handed down by the International Court of Justice. I find it quite shocking, to be quite honest, that the Israeli ambassador was asked to attend a Famine memorial event when the Israeli regime she represents is wilfully inflicting a famine on the people of Gaza. Is it not time to expel the Israeli ambassador for her involvement in, advocacy of and justification for the war crimes, the crimes against humanity and genocide in respect of which Israel is in the dock before both of the international legal institutions that are supposed to uphold international law?

Reports indicate that Ireland, along with other EU member states, may recognise the state of Palestine as early as tomorrow.

I welcome that, particularly as we see the horrendous death toll in Gaza rising and International Criminal Court arrest warrants being sought in respect of Netanyahu and Israeli and Hamas leaders. We must see an end to Israel's genocidal action in Gaza and the release of the hostages.

In his statement to the International Court of Justice in February, the Attorney General stated that countries must prevent trade that maintains Israel's annexation of Palestine. That welcome statement is at odds with what the Government claims is the Taoiseach's advice on the Restriction of Imports (States in violation of obligations under the Genocide Convention and Occupied Territories) Bill 2024. I am asking for statements or debate with the Tánaiste that would include a question-and-answer session in order that we might settle once and for all if the blockage on the progression of this important Bill is legal or if it is merely political. We believe there is no legal obstacle to making further progress on the occupied territories Bill.

I would like to understand if it took the Taoiseach by surprise when the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan announced charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant? The first point around which they are building a case is the use of starvation of civilians as a weapon war. I really want to understand the Government's position. Like many others at the weekend, I almost fell back in astonishment when I looked at the news and saw the Israeli ambassador, Dana Erlich, at the Famine commemoration in County Louth. This was an insult not only to the occasion but also to the 1 million Irish people who died and those who were forcefully exiled from our nation. The population has still not recovered from the latter. What happened at the weekend was an absolute abomination and I would like to know how that happened. The Russian ambassador, correctly, was not there, but all the other ambassadors were. That was a political decision. Perhaps the Taoiseach will explain the basis for that decision. I understand we are about to recognise the state of Palestine, which is welcome, but surely we must go further. The time for doing so has long since passed.

The Taoiseach wrote a letter to Ursula von der Leyen highlighting issues with the EU-Israel trade agreement but he has yet to receive a response. Is he embarrassed that his candidates are out there saying that they will vote for her for the EU Commission? We have gone beyond the point of playing politics here; we need leadership.