Occupied territories Bill and Gaza
Catherine Connolly attacks the exclusion of services from the occupied territories Bill and frames the issue as part of genocide in Gaza. The Taoiseach rejects her claims, insists the Bill concerns the occupied territories only, defends Ireland’s position on Israel and the EU, and says she is distorting the facts.
The Taoiseach stands before us shamefaced today to tell us that the occupied territories Bill will not include services. He does this on a day when 21 people were shot like moving targets at a fair as they queued up for food this morning. We are told that 56,000 people are now dead in the genocide. The Lancet tells us the figure is much higher, as does the Harvard database, which puts the figure at 377,000. We have had three judgments from the highest courts in the world, the ICJ and the ICC, including an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and a plausible genocide case. The Taoiseach stands here seven years after an occupied territories Bill was brought to these Houses and tells us barefacedly that he will not include services and is now going to look for advice from the Attorney General. Does the Taoiseach know how much trade there is with Israel as we speak? It has grown exponentially. Imports from Israel totalled €3.26 billion in 2024 while exports totalled €1.6 billion. The Taoiseach stands here today while the airports are being used to transport American weapons and shamefacedly refuses to do the most minimal thing possible, which is to include services.
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You should be.
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The Deputy said a few things that are wildly inaccurate and wrong. She deliberately conflated trade with Israel with trade with the occupied territories, as did an earlier speaker. We need to be clear on what we are talking about. The occupied territories Bill is about the occupied territories.
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I am fully clear what it is about.
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I am giving the Taoiseach the context, which is that a genocide is under way.
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We are talking about a genocide.
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Standard practice is not to afford members of Government the courtesy of being allowed to respond.
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I make no apologies for challenging the false assertions that have repeatedly been made in this house by those on the far left who are consistently trying to create-----
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Twenty-one individuals were shot.
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For example, no aeroplanes are being facilitated to transport weaponry to Gaza or the Middle East. How dare people make the assertion that they are when they are not?
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The Government has checked and inspected them, has it?
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It is happening in our airspace.
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I will take out the "s" and say "airport".
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That was deliberate. People have said that publicly as well. Deliberate attempts to create a misleading narrative on all of this are being made all over the place. Ireland has done more on this issue than any other country within Europe but we unfortunately do not have the power to stop Israel. We want Israel to stop. We have asked Israel to stop. We have asked the European Union to create leverage. That is what we have done. The Deputy is shamefacedly always trying to blame others.