We are witnessing a terrifying outbreak of war in Iran and across the Middle East over recent days, with strikes on schools and infrastructure, citizens locked down, flights cancelled and global chaos. At the outset, I will say what the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues have so far failed to say, namely that the attacks carried out by the United States and Israel represent a flagrant breach of international law. Their bombardment of Iran is illegal and should be condemned by the Taoiseach. Of course, the Iranian regime is tyrannical, deeply repressive and has murdered thousands of civilians over recent months. Labour has consistently condemned the Iranian regime and has supported pro-democracy and women's rights campaigners in Iran. Indeed, I have been publicly condemned by the Iranian ambassador to Ireland because I criticised his depraved whitewash of the murder of teenager Jina Mahsa Amini by so-called morality police in Iran. I brought Irish citizen Bernard Phelan to Leinster House to speak about his illegal and brutal incarceration by Iran in the so-called Satan's Block prison wing.

We in Labour have no truck with the Iranian regime. However, two things can be true at once. We can oppose and condemn an authoritarian regime, yet still insist international law is upheld . When we see the erosion of democracy and creeping fascism in different countries across the world, it becomes all the more important for us to uphold the rule of law resolutely and steadfastly and the Taoiseach must acknowledge that. Yet, he cannot bring himself to condemn outright these attacks. Instead, he engages in what I would say is doublespeak. He said he is a multilateralist but criticised the United Nations which, while imperfect, represents the embodiment of a multilateral world order and of multilateralism and the rule of law.

Worse again, in a fortnight he will genuflect before the man responsible for this global disorder and will do so in the name of the people of Ireland, all without offering any principled criticism of Trump's warmongering. It is warmongering. Trump's war has consequences. Some 200 children were killed in a strike on an Iranian primary school.

A total of 25,000 Irish citizens are stranded and trapped in countries across the Middle East as they experience appalling and illegal bombing by Iran. We are all waiting to learn what exactly Trump means when he says, "We haven't even started hitting them hard". Those are terrifying words. This is a chaotic White House, which is destabilising what was already a tinderbox in the Middle East, destroying innocent lives, disrupting the global economy and pushing the most vulnerable people into harsh poverty. Here in Ireland, energy bills are skyrocketing already. On "Liveline" yesterday we heard from people frazzled, racing against the real-time price-gouging that we are seeing with home heating oil, forced to plan for yet more wartime inflation, just four years after the Putin's brutal war in Ukraine. We cannot then see the Taoiseach engage in plastic-Paddy pageantry while hiding behind vague language. Will the Taoiseach condemn the US and Israeli action as a breach of international law? What is the Government doing to safeguard Irish citizens in the region and to ensure de-escalation?

We are very clear on upholding the international rule of law. This bombing campaign is not in accordance with a UN mandate. I totally accept the Deputy's bona fides. She has been consistent on Iran, but the international rules-based order has been powerless to do anything about Iran, if we are honest, over a long period. That does raise questions. It is not a new question; it is a decades-old question in terms of intervention. There have been interventions by previous American presidents with consequences that were long-lasting in a negative sense. We know all of that but, equally, regimes have been allowed and sanctions have not been enough to shift those regimes into facilitating democracy within their jurisdictions or at least allowing their civilians freedom of movement and speech and the opportunities to change by democratic channels.

The Deputy described the brutal crackdown of the Mahsa Amini protest, which was about the liberation of women within in Iran. It was brutal and the world was powerless and did nothing. We do not have full estimates relating to what happened only six weeks ago but some say it could be as high as 10,000 or 15,000 ordinary Iranians executed for just protesting. There are moral dilemmas everywhere. I take the Deputy's basic point that we do not believe in intervention without a UN mandate. No one is even disputing that but, equally, there is a huge issue with this regime. The challenges, as the Deputy said, relate to instability across the region. That is why we are calling for a de-escalation and getting back around the negotiating table. These negotiations on the nuclear file have been going on since 2005 or 2007. That is how long they have been going on. They have been dragged out, as has the ballistics programme.

I met Bernard Phelan as well. At will the Iranian regime just kidnapped European citizens, put them in prison and then ransomed or blackmailed western governments to try to get them released. That was the modus operandi. Bernard Phelan and people he met in prison had a fairly brutal imprisonment. Some of them have yet to get out of those prisons in Iran.

We can all agree there are no good guys here. The Iranian regime is brutal and we have utterly condemned it. However, the Israeli and US attacks on Iran are also illegal. We should be able to say that very clearly. The socialist Prime Minister of Spain has been very clear in condemning the attacks and refusing to allow Spanish bases to be used by the US. Why can we not have that clarity here? Instead, as I said, the Taoiseach engages in a sort of double-speak, criticizing the UN, yet failing to recognise that in fact there has been an effective use of multilateral institutions in containing, reducing and diminishing Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Why can we not work with the multilateral institutions that we have? Why can we not hear the Irish Government condemning clearly the US-Israeli strikes as in breach of international law? There is, I think, a clear indication that the Taoiseach is soft-pedalling a national response in fear of upsetting Washington ahead of St. Patrick's Day. I think that has to be the conclusion-----

Hear, hear.

-----that we all must draw. The Irish people are not fools.

Thank you, Deputy Bacik. Will the Taoiseach respond?

You never mentioned the Irish citizens.

We did, actually.

I think that is what we are seeing here.

Thank you, Deputy Bacik. Please, Deputies.