Ach an oiread le mo chomhghleacaithe, ba mhaith liom cás na bPalaistíneach a tharraingt anuas anseo. The situation in Palestine is absolutely abhorrent. Some of the reports would literally frighten the life out of anyone. There is talk of Israeli soldiers doing leaflet drops telling people that if they move outside their houses they will be shot. We have heard stories of entire families being wiped out, of four year-old twin boys being killed and their parents dying in hospital; of more than 105 Palestinians killed in six days. There are also media reports of Israeli Ministers calling for Israel to use bombs to re-format Gaza, to wipe it clean like a computer hard drive. Another Minister advised that Israel should bomb Gaza so hard that the population would flee into Egypt and that Israel should cut off water and electricity supplies to Gaza. I ask that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade come to the House to have a debate on the situation in Gaza.

What we are seeing now is a population of people that are like fish in a barrel to a megapower that is being backed up by other huge states. What is going on there is atrocious. In recent months and years we have seen the blockade of Gaza and an increase in the number of settlements. We should be calling for an end to the blockade and a ban on settlement goods.

Hear, hear.

We should have the Minister in the House to discuss what is going on in the region.

I call on my colleagues who mentioned the Savita Halappanavar case in Galway and the obvious debate on the X case to talk to their colleagues in the Dáil and ask them to support the Sinn Féin motion before the Dáil this evening.

The Senator should ask his own party-----

He should ask his own party-----

Senator Ó Clochartaigh without interruption.

That is extremely important. I agree with most of what Senator Bacik said about the need to introduce legislation as quickly as possible and to ensure that whatever is brought in is legally robust. Seven Governments in the past 20 years did not legislate or act on this issue and it is about time this Government acted on it. In all fairness I ask it to support the motion being put forward by my colleagues in the Dáil.