One million Irish people, the Taoiseach's ancestors and mine, starved to death during the Great Famine in the 1840s and 1850s. Two million of us were driven to cross the Atlantic in coffin ships in search of mere survival. Thousands of us died on those ships. At home, our people died in cabins, in ditches, on the roads and in workhouses. There is hardly a parish in the country that has not a famine graveyard. To this day, the awful devastation of the Famine is imprinted in our minds, our hearts and our very souls. While the failure of the potato crop was the initial cause, the appalling vista is that the Famine could have been avoided but for the deliberate actions and inaction of a foreign imperial Government. The continued export of shipload after shipload of food from Ireland while we starved was thoroughly disgraceful and inhuman.

Today, 2.3 million Palestinians are facing starvation.

All reputable international organisations say that 500,000 Palestinians are facing catastrophic levels of hunger while another 1 million are facing emergency levels of hunger.

The State of Israel and its defence forces are deliberately starving the Palestinian people. They have blocked all food aid to Gaza since 2 March and, in the words of the Israeli defence minister, no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza. The shiploads of food exported from Ireland during the Famine can be compared to the 3,000 truckloads of food being blocked by the Israel Defense Forces on the borders of Gaza.

I acknowledge and appreciate the Taoiseach's description of this as a war crime and I acknowledge and appreciate the involvement of the State with South Africa in the international courts, but we must do more. This State and the Taoiseach, because of our famine history and our neutrality, have a unique moral authority and obligation to do everything in our power to stop the genocidal starvation of 2.3 million human beings in Gaza.

The Israeli state must face consequences. The Taoiseach has himself described it as a war crime.

I thank the Deputy. He should conclude.

I believe this country must take action that is within our control, like stopping the Central Bank from facilitating the sale of Israeli state bonds, stopping all military flights through Shannon, even if that is a temporary measure-----

Thank you, Deputy. I call the Taoiseach to respond.

-----prosecuting airlines that are bringing armaments through our airspace and immediately reintroducing the occupied territories Bill in this House.

First of all, I thank the Deputy, and I do not say it patronisingly, for very eloquently presenting the case and the comparison with our own national trauma during the 19th century in terms of the Great Famine and a deliberate policy now being perpetrated by the Israeli Government in respect of denying the basic necessities of life to the people of Gaza. It is quite shocking that Israel would, in a very deliberative way, conduct and prosecute a policy of this kind against an entire population. As I said previously in the Dáil, it is wrong in principle and in law to inflict hunger and suffering on a civilian population, whatever the circumstances, and this behaviour clearly constitutes a war crime.

In that context, we are working with other like-minded member states in the European Union - I have raised this with the President of the Commission - and, indeed, wherever we can to bring about international pressure on Israel to allow the basic necessities of life and unhindered aid into Gaza. The level of malnutrition among children is absolutely shocking and appalling. The trauma that has been visited upon the children of Gaza is lifelong. Many have been orphaned and many have lost siblings, parents and uncles and, of course, entire families have been wiped out by the shocking bombing of a very urban and densely populated environment.

In terms of the issues the Deputy has raised, we will continue to work with Spain, Slovenia, Norway, Iceland and other countries where we would have similar views in respect of this, and to try to get a stronger position from the entire membership of the European Union, at a minimum, in respect of the humanitarian situation and to get Gaza opened to aid.

The people in Gaza are trapped in Gaza. The Deputy mentioned in terms of famine that people can escape but people are trapped in Gaza due to the military activity and the bombing, but also the starvation and not having access to outside assistance or outside support. There is no shortage of humanitarian aid outside of Gaza at Rafah and other locations. There is no shortage of neighbouring Arab states that want to supply aid and support. The issue is getting it in there in the first instance. Now, the latest manifestation of Israeli policy, in endeavouring to control the entirety of the aid programme, is also reprehensible and unacceptable. We will continue to do what we can to get Gaza open for humanitarian aid and assistance.

I am sorry but that is not good enough. We have to do more. Gaza is absolutely shocking. We have genocide and war crimes every hour of every day. The Palestinian people are being starved and bombed every hour of every day. Time is not on their side. Half a million are in a catastrophic state of hunger and starvation. Surely some country, or some leader, must stand up and take dramatic action to stop this. The Taoiseach has already said that this is a war crime. We went through something similar ourselves in the 1840s and 1850s. We have, and the Taoiseach has, the authority - the international authority - to do something practical and dramatic to stop what is happening. These people are being starved to death. The Taoiseach has the opportunity to lead the international opposition to this. For God’s sake, please do so.

I take the Deputy’s point, although I do believe we need key powers to intervene. We need key powers, such as the US and major European Union-----

We can do things without them.

Hear me out, please. Major European Union countries-----

We can do things ourselves.

We have done it. Ireland on its own is not going to shift the dial on this.

I acknowledge what you have done but there are things you can do, and there are things this country can do, and they can do it now.

Deputy, please allow the response.

Something dramatic needs to be done to stop this situation.

Deputy Healy, you have had your time. You must allow the Taoiseach to respond.

I just want to make the point. I have noticed a shift in European opinion on this. The bigger powers, quite frankly, have to intervene here because of what is happening morally, and we will, too, but-----

We cannot wait.

-----the realpolitik of this is very clear to me. The big powers-----

Big things start small.

I appreciate we are all-----

It is a desperate situation.

I am just stating the facts. It is very clear to me that the major powers have to intervene to get Israel to change course and stop doing what it is doing.