I express my condolences to the family and friends of Yves Sakila. A video circulating online of an incident before his death is deeply disturbing. There must be a full, comprehensive and transparent investigation into what happened.

Yesterday, Israel committed yet another blatant breach of international law. The Israel Defense Forces, IDF, boarded a flotilla in international waters and again kidnapped humanitarian activists, including 12 Irish citizens. They took this action not because the flotilla posed any kind of threat, but to stop humanitarian aid reaching a starving population in Gaza. The activists on the flotilla were kidnapped for simply trying to bring them food, medicine and baby formula.

Among those kidnapped was one of my constituents, Tom Deasy from Clonakilty, as well as the President's sister, Dr. Margaret Connolly, a Sligo GP. Twelve Irish citizens, including the sister of our Head of State, have been illegally detained. It is completely unprecedented, not that we would have known this from the Government’s response, because it took it 12 hours to issue a four-line statement about it. This is not just deeply disappointing; this is utterly pathetic.

For more than two years, we have heard daily reports of Palestinian people being killed, injured and illegally detained. Meanwhile, settler violence in the West Bank is at record levels, with Palestinian villages and homes being razed to the ground. Yet, there have still been no sanctions against Israel and, crucially, no enactment of the occupied territories Bill, despite the Government's big commitments when it was electioneering. I believe that lack of action from this Government is what has driven the Irish citizens on the flotilla to take action themselves and leave their families to board boats in the full awareness that they will likely be illegally captured by the IDF, with their safety not guaranteed.

I spoke to Tom Deasy’s sister, Ciara, this morning. Her family believe he will be forcibly transferred to a port in Palestinian territories in the next two hours. They have got no word on his safety and they will not until Israel decides to share that information. Israel holds all the power because it knows there are no consequences for its actions. The past two years have shown us all that.

Ciara told me how worried sick she is but, more than that, how proud she is of her brother. She said:

The people on the flotilla have been shouting for Palestine for a long time now and that. Now it's time to shout for them in order to get people in power to act.

The Taoiseach is one of those people. He has the power to stop munitions going through our airspace, to stop the trade of dual-use goods and to enact the occupied territories Bill. He has the power to act so why will he not?

First, I extend my deepest sympathies to the family of Mr. Sakila. The full circumstances of what happened there need to be examined and investigated fully and thoroughly. I understand that Fiosrú has been notified and is involved in that as an independent statutory body. The situation is deeply concerning and very concerning to many people who witnessed it. I just want to make that point but obviously we cannot pre-empt the outcome of any investigation.

In respect of the Israeli action against the Sumud flotilla in international waters and the detention of those onboard, I strongly condemn what the Israeli Government has done and I condemn the action of the Israeli military forces, as I have done previously and as we did very early on. The Deputy's picky attitude to timing is just wrong and unnecessary. We will engage and are engaging with the Israeli Government on the release of all Irish citizens who have been wrongfully detained by the Israeli military in international waters. It is unacceptable behaviour.

Let me be clear: the humanitarian situation in Gaza is equally unacceptable and has been for quite some time. Very often what tends to happen is people very quickly pivot away from attacking the Israeli Government and want to attack the Irish Government more than attacking the Israeli Government. That seems to be the standard course of action here which I do not think adds a whole lot to trying to help the overall situation in Palestine. Most Palestinians I meet and when I meet the Palestinian Authority or people in the area, they are very appreciative of successive actions the Irish Government has taken on this question. We have given a lot of support to the Palestinian people and rightly so. We will have allocated about €144 million by the end of 2026 in support of the Palestinian people. That is not insignificant. We have consistently supported UNRWA and have given €68 million since 2023. We intervened in South Africa's International Court of Justice, ICJ, case against Israel under the Genocide Convention. We made a submission to the ICJ on the legal consequences of Israel's actions in the occupied territories. We subsequently co-sponsored a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly back in 2024, which sought to implement the court's advisory opinion. We recognise Palestine as a sovereign and independent state. We have organised medical evacuations of sick children from Gaza, along with their family members, for treatment, and plans are ongoing for further missions. We have supported over 300 people to leave Gaza and travel to Ireland since the crisis began. We will now work to get those people released and safely home

Asking the Taoiseach to live up to his election promises is not attacking him. That should be the bare minimum. He said that he would enact the occupied territories Bill and all this Government has done for 16 months is find excuses to delay it. Back and forth to the Attorney General, over and over again, looking for advice that we know is the same as that from the Attorney General to the previous Government. We know the advice was to go ahead. Now the Government has run out of steam with that excuse so it is going for the need for all of Europe to act. It is excuse after excuse. Words of condemnation are welcome but what I am asking about is action on the occupied territories Bill and on the divestment Bill. There are so many actions that this Government could take and the brave point that the people on board the flotilla are making is that there needs to be action, not just words. Like Tom's sister said, it is time for the Taoiseach to use his voice and power to do something about this instead of people continuing to feel that they need to put their own lives at risk to try to get aid into Gaza.

I disagree with the Deputy's fundamental premise on this issue. People know my voice on Gaza and the Middle East. They know it in the European Union, both on the Foreign Affairs Council, when I was Minister for Foreign Affairs, and back in 2007, when I went to Gaza. I do not really need lectures from the Deputy in terms of my sincerity about Gaza.

Where is the occupied territories Bill?

I appreciate what those on the flotilla are doing. If we passed the occupied territories Bill in the morning, there would still be a flotilla, and I understand why there would be. Earlier, I listed all that has been done. If we look back at the debate before we did the recognition and before we intervened in the South African case, all the Deputies opposite were saying, "If only you would do this, it will achieve a fundamental change in Israel's position". We did all of that. We did so for the right reasons, because we think it is the right thing to do. Has it impacted on Israeli behaviour? Let us be honest: it has not. The Minister will progress the occupied territories Bill-----

We have been waiting years for that.

-----but will it change Israel's position? That is the key issue.

There have been no sanctions.

The time is up, a Thaoisigh.

Globally, there must be an international alliance of countries to really put pressure on Israel.

The time is up.

I respectfully suggest that is the way to proceed.

Deputy Stanley might indulge me, before I call him, in saying that although we welcomed Austin Appelbee earlier, he has just arrived into the Chamber. I ask that we give him a round of applause. He has been highly commended by Members and he and his family are most welcome.