As we meet here, Israel's genocide in Gaza continues, Israel's attacks on the West Bank continue and now Israel's bombardment of Lebanon continues and Israeli leaders are openly discussing a land invasion. Israel is committing war crimes every day. That state is in flagrant violation of international law, just as it has been not for a year but for several decades. Today, we are on the brink of a global humanitarian and security catastrophe. Every time we think things cannot get any worse, Israel proves us wrong. Why is this? How could it be that a state that enjoys the most preferential trading, economic and diplomatic relationship with the western world would be in a position to literally brag about consigning the international rule book to the dustbin of history? The answer is, of course, that Israeli forces murder innocent Palestinian and now Lebanese people at will because they believe they can do so with impunity. This is because they have never faced a consequence for their actions.

The Irish people have long believed that Israel should face consequences. They recall how measures taken by Ireland helped, even in a small way, to bring an end to South African apartheid. For years, they have been demanding that we do the same in respect of Israeli apartheid in Palestine. One of the things that we can do and, in fact, should have done years ago, is to enact the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. The Bill is not controversial or, at least, it should not be. It simply bans trade with and economic support for illegal settlements and territories deemed occupied under international law. The Tánaiste's party supported it when it was in opposition. It not only supported it but ran a roadshow in towns and cities across Ireland setting out its importance. Fine Gael, on the other hand, as we know, opposed the passage of the legislation every step of the way. Despite this, the legislation was adopted by the Dáil and the Seanad, but Fine Gael Governments have blocked its enactment. On entering Government, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, it has to be said, have allowed Fine Gael to continue blocking this legislation. We have heard the excuses as to why the Bill has not been enacted. Reporting from The Ditch website suggests that following a confidential and unrecorded call with the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, Israeli officials were in little doubt that the Bill would be blocked by the Fine Gael Government. We are told that Israeli officials emphasised that this was a confidential call and that, of course, chimes with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe's own failure to record it in his ministerial diary and the Tánaiste's contention that the Minister cannot recall the conversation.

A Cheann Comhairle, caithfimid dlí idirnáisiúnta agus an daonnacht a chosaint. Caithfidh Iosrael a bheith freagrach as na rudaí a dhéanann sí. While the Tánaiste's language has, welcomely, changed over the past year, moving on from a point where he would not even condemn Israel by name to finally moving on the recognition of Palestine, the truth is that his Government cannot point to a single sanction that Ireland has imposed on the Israeli state for its actions. In that context, I must ask if the Tánaiste agrees that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and, indeed, all Ministers should set out clearly the details of any engagements they have had with their Israeli counterparts or officials? Above all, however, does he agree that it is now time for the Government to take action against an Israeli state that has been in grievous breach of international law for decades and is currently conducting a genocide against the Palestinian people? Will he commit today to enacting the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, to allowing the passage of Sinn Féin's Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023 and to taking other measures to ensure Ireland can clearly state that here, at least, there are consequences for a powerful state that embarks on cowardly and depraved attacks against civilian populations?

I thank the Deputy for raising this extremely important issue. The carnage and the slaughter of innocent children, women and men across the Middle East is to be condemned and I have condemned it consistently. The action of Hamas on 7 October 2023 was horrific and heinous, but the Israeli response to that murderous attack by Hamas has been absolutely disproportional, has resulted in the levelling of Gaza, near famine conditions in Gaza and the killing of more than 40,000 people. In my view, that is reprehensible. Likewise, I have condemned the escalation into Lebanon, where the intensity of that bombardment is such that again innocent men, women and children are being killed. At every international forum and again this week in New York, where I have just come back from, I have focused particularly on the Middle East question. I attended the International Peace Institute dinner on Monday evening with all the Arab partners and other interested partners in respect of endeavouring to get the Middle East on a pathway to a two-state solution and the resolution of this.

Yesterday, I met with the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. He was very grateful to Ireland and very appreciative of Ireland's consistent stance in support of international humanitarian law and the Palestinian right to self-determination. I met with the Jordanian Foreign Minister yesterday as well, and he again reiterated, as he has done on numerous occasions, his appreciation for Ireland standing up for Palestinian self-determination and a two-state solution. It was similar with the Egyptian Foreign Minister yesterday too.

I will say to the Deputy generally that I have noticed a tendency on his behalf to sort of create a division or almost to suggest that the Government parties are not fully committed to either the two-state solution and Palestinian self-determination or to calling out blatant violations of international humanitarian law. The view outside Ireland is that we have been one of the leading countries in actually standing up for what is right. That is the view externally. I think it is regrettable that, at times, the Deputy has sought to sow the seeds of division or almost drive a wedge in this regard or create a sort of politically advantageous position on this issue vis-à-vis the Government parties. The issue is far too serious for that.

One significant development in recent months has been the conclusions of the International Court of Justice in respect of its advisory opinion on the occupation of Palestinian territories. This is a very serious conclusion by the court. It must be remembered that Ireland supported the resolution that led to that advisory opinion. The Attorney General made submissions on behalf of the country in this regard. During yesterday's discussions with the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, the debate focused on how we can use that finding, the advisory opinion, in respect of the illegality of the occupation and in respect of how member states and those who have signed up to the ICJ, because this is the very apex of international humanitarian law and observations, can now progress it. We focused on a timeline to seeing what we can do in this regard.

As the Deputy knows, Ireland, in conjunction with Spain, wrote to the European Commission calling for a review of the EU-Israel association agreement. Josep Borrell, the High Representative, has now sought legal advice on the ICJ opinion.

In respect of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, I spoke to him before I came in this morning.

He is clear that he did not make any such phone call. His published diary does not record any such phone call. It speaks to people rushing to judgment before ascertaining the full facts. He is very clear and I think Deputy Carthy should perhaps withdraw the assertions in his earlier public statements in that regard.

Make or take?

My assertions amounted to a request that all Government Ministers clarify the full interactions they have had with Israeli Government Ministers and state officials. You did not answer whether that would be forthcoming. You set out very clearly and rightly the realities of Israeli actions in both Palestine and Lebanon, but you did not set out any consequences for those actions. I have no doubt that there are many within the international community who are very grateful for the positions Ireland has taken. I am very glad that Ireland speaks out against a grievous record of atrocities on the part of the Israeli State against the Palestinian people. I make no apologies for saying we must go further. There has to be consequences. The reason Israel continues to do what it is doing is because it has faced not a single consequence for the unrelenting and unmitigated murder of children, women and innocent men across many, many years. My question, as a leader of a party that ran public meetings up and down this State encouraging support for the enactment of the occupied territories Bill, now that you are in the position you are in, if you will ensure that your Government does that now; not tomorrow, next week, or next year when countless more innocent people will have been killed, but now.

Again, Ireland along with Spain, were the first more recent European Union member states to recognise the State of Palestine. Slovenia has now followed on the recognition question and Norway also did that. We were central to turning around the narrative on UNRWA within the European Union and stopping the denial of vital aid into UNRWA, and likewise in terms of aid and support from the Commission to the Palestinian Authority, which should have been far more frequent and should not have been subjected to stop-start as it was.

On the legal front, we have pursued all avenues of justice which does challenge Israel in respect of international humanitarian law. It is something that they do take umbrage at and have taken particular umbrage at Ireland's positioning before the ICJ and ICC and in respect of the recognition question and our general stance overall. The legal advice that previous Attorneys General gave in respect of the occupied territories Bill was that it was contrary to European Union law in respect of the conduct of trade. There is further advice being sought in respect of that but also in the context of the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion, which, as I say, is being sought by our Government but also at European Union level in respect of the obligations on EU member states in respect of the ICJ's advisory opinion. It is a very significant turning point and Europe has to face up to that reality.

We are way over time.