Today, I show unity with an initiative by Senator Stephenson as regards Gaza. On a day on which we are commemorating the Great Famine - Gorta Mór na hÉireann - a tragedy that shaped our nation and left scars generations later, it reminds us of the deep pain that comes when people are denied their most basic needs. This week, just nine trucks were allowed into Gaza. To meet the basic demands or needs of the population, 500 trucks a day are needed. For nearly 80 days now, food, water and medicine have been severely restricted from entering the region. This has created a state-sponsored humanitarian crisis, with international agencies warning of impending famine. We, the Irish people, know what famine means. We know the devastation it brings, not just in lives lost, but in the trauma carried forward through the succeeding generations. Today, as we remember our own history, we cannot ignore those suffering in Gaza. Let us not look away as a country. Let us remember that ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine - we live in each other's shadow. Our humanity is bound in togetherness. In common with other notable historical greats such as Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot, Mr. Netanyahu will stand on the wrong side of history in the last analysis.

To go from that to something as mundane as helicopters and security around our coasts is an inevitable leap from the sublime to the mundane. I draw attention to the fact we have swapped a good search and rescue service with CHC for a putative service with Bristow Ireland Limited. We are paying €40 million more for a much worse service. In this House, the limitations of the new AW189 helicopter have been well delineated and it is not a pretty story. Who in Government can countenance giving another €40 million to a company that has a dubious record and is giving an infrastructural service that is far less? In Waterford we have the R117 that has a rescue personnel crew of 14. It has a personnel load of 14. The AW189 cannot do anything like that, nor can it allow people stand up to deliver CPR on the helicopter. The Government cannot give €12 million to extend the runway in Waterford, but it can give €40 million to an inferior service. It is very strange.

There are no more laws that Israel can break. There are no more UN conventions that Israel can ignore, and Israel continues with the ongoing genocide. The Irish Government continues to do nothing. I know Government will list things it believes it has done, such as measures like recognising the State of Palestine. It will say it funds various projects in the West Bank, and of course that is positive and good, but it does nothing to end the genocide in Gaza. It does nothing to make Israel be held to account for the slaughter and starvation it is imposing on Gaza. What has also happened is that while Ireland has funded projects in the West Bank, weeks later Israel blows them up and Ireland does nothing. Israel is the most dangerous regime in the world. Israelis are gathering on hills overlooking Gaza and cheering as bombs rain down on families and individuals in Gaza. Israel is a depraved country. You cannot dress it up any other way. The UN has warned that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in the next 48 hours if it does not get the food aid it requires. Let us acknowledge that the UN is not an alarmist organisation. We have a position in Ireland now, where countries will object to Israel being banned from the Eurovision Song Contest and yet they are calling for the ending of starvation in Gaza. You have a situation where Kneecap and Gary Lineker are facing more consequences and punishment than Israel is for genocide in Gaza. We need to see action. We need to see the passing of the occupied territories Bill, and we need to ensure the selling of Israeli genocide bonds through the Central Bank stops as well.

I will recognise some of the children who have been murdered in the Gaza Strip. One is Muhammad Khalifa, who twice visited Ireland playing football. Both he and his whole family were wiped out. There are more than 20,000 other children like Muhammad, who have been slaughtered at the hands of Israel. We need to see action, and not just words. We need a debate. We need the Minister to come in here because he is ducking a debate on the issue of Gaza.

Other Opposition Senators and I have come together today to bear witness to the human catastrophe that is going on in Gaza as we speak. We are putting on the record of the Seanad the names of some of the children who did not reach their first birthday. As well as the names of journalists, including reporters, writers, photographers and video directors, who were killed trying to show the world a livestreamed genocide, you will hear the names of healthcare workers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, dentists and pharmacists who all died while trying to save lives in the most desperate of circumstances. Many of them had to operate with no anaesthesia, with makeshift equipment and with carnage all around them. The criteria to be included on the list of the dead are that a person has to have died violently, been brought to hospital and been identified. As such, many names are missing because people cannot identify their loved ones. The total figures I have today are: 110 children under one year old, that is, babies under one who have died; 1,400 healthcare workers killed while doing their lifesaving work; and 180 journalists killed while trying to report the horror to us. Despite the regular calls for a debate in this Chamber on the genocide happening in Gaza, we have not had one. We also have not had sufficient meaningful action from this Government. We still have arms being flown through Ireland, the Central Bank is still selling Israeli war bonds and we still have trade being conducted with the occupied Palestinian territory. We cannot claim to have credibly acted to stop this genocide happening.

I will now take the time to read out some of the names of the dead. Some of the babies under one year old include: Oday Mohammed Rafiq Al-Sultan, Mohammed Nidal Hisham Attallah and Masa Mohammed Youssef Nasr. The journalists include: Ahmed Maher Ahmed, aged 30; Mohamed Ahmed Mahmoud Khair Al-Din, aged 45; and Akram Ahmed Khalil Al-Shafii, aged 53. Some of the doctors who have died include: Dr. Ibrahim Al-Dali, Dr. Nada Mahdi, Dr. Marwa Swelim and Dr. Mamoun Afana. I will now list some of the nurses who have died: Ezzo Afana, Badr Mohammed Abu Daqah, Rana Shalaby and Zainab Al-Sharafi. There are so many names. We could be here all day if we wanted to pay tribute to all the people who have died in Gaza but we simply do not have the time.

An article on RTÉ's website today stated that 14,000 babies could die in the next 48 hours if aid is not allowed into Gaza. We are not doing enough. We are not doing enough as a country, as a government, as western Europe, as democracies or as the UN. We should all be ashamed of ourselves. That includes me. I am not pointing fingers at any individual people. We are all complicit in this. In 40 years, we will read about this in history books and shake our heads with shame. Famine is a trauma that we in Ireland have faced, as Senator Joe Conway so beautifully put it. Why are we allowing it to happen in 2025? We know it is happening. It is one of the worst catastrophes in the modern age and we should all be ashamed.

I thank my colleague Senator Stephenson for giving me the list of names of children who have been murdered in Gaza at zero years of age. It is too hard to read out the names. I will have to leave some out because we will not have enough time to read them all. What is happening in Gaza is an absolute horror show. We are all watching live on video but it is not a show or a film; this is really happening today. People are getting wiped out. They are being starved to death and we are all watching it going on. It is absolutely outrageous. As my colleagues have said, we need action. We need a debate and a discussion. We need to be able to say what Ireland is doing. We need the occupied territories Bill to be passed. There are a great many things we need to do. I have no doubt that Ireland can and will lead out on this, as it should. We can make a difference. I have no doubt about that.

I also want to quickly highlight the Associated Press report that Microsoft has cancelled the email address of the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, without notice. This comes in the wake of sanctions imposed on the court by President Trump in February of this year after a panel of ICC judges issued arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes in Gaza. Among other things, the sanctions threaten any company with fines and prison time if they provide Khan with financial material or technological support. The court has been heavily curtailed in its operations and, as a result, organisations and contractors the court relies on for its day-to-day work are ceasing communications through email in fear that they might be targeted by US authorities. What is going on in the world, for God’s sake?

We all know our own Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, and the Tánaiste have both stated that Israel has committed war crimes in respect of the blockade of aid and food to Gaza over the past two months. In this context, given the response of the US Administration to the ICC arrest warrants for war crimes and the response of companies like Microsoft, which has been to pull their services under threat of legal action on the foot of this, I am deeply worried about the dependency the Oireachtas has on communications infrastructure wholly provided by an American tech company and what this means for our own digital autonomy. Those concerns are also being expressed by our European counterparts. In the Netherlands, government and public institutions are also heavily dependent on Microsoft. Dutch law requires critical infrastructure organisations to maintain a backup plan, and public sector organisations are already exploring ways to reduce their reliance on US-based cloud services. This needs to be looked at and addressed. We need serious action in respect of what is happening. What we are watching is an absolute outrage. It is beyond belief. We need action now and we really need that debate on Gaza.