I want to raise the issue of the number of women who have been killed since the beginning of this year. It is disturbing and devastating that eight women have now been killed in Ireland, which is higher than the total number of women killed in 2025. Forty women have been killed in Ireland since the tragic killing of Ashling Murphy in 2022. Women do not feel that they can flee. There are no appropriate housing supports. We still have many counties without a refuge. Even when women are in a refuge, where is the long-term suitable accommodation for them? Accessing justice remains incredibly difficult. The challenge of the legal aid threshold is too high when financial abuse becomes part of domestic abuse. The specialist support services that are out there are stretched. How can we expect women, survivors and victims of domestic violence to flee to safety when the appropriate supports are simply not there? We need to explore giving An Garda Síochána the power to remove abusers from the home rather than the victim survivors. We talk about having a zero-tolerance approach to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, but counselling notes will still be available in the courts. Toxic, misogynistic online culture is still rife, as are toxic algorithms, perpetuating a normalised culture of violence against women. That is where we are. Instead of going forward, we are going backwards.

I also want to raise the issue of a Palestinian doctor in Israeli detention who has been there for 559 days with no charges. "This is the last time you'll see me ... They brought me here to kill me ... This is the end." These are the words of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya to his lawyer just days ago. He asked his lawyers to rouse the world, and many have. I am adding my voice here today. He was the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital and he is the doctor who refused to abandon his patients in Gaza while hospitals were under attack. Even after he lost his own son, he stayed because he believed his duty was to serve the sick and injured. His courage is a symbol of humanity in the darkest of times. Now, reports and videos show him in detention and they are really difficult to comprehend. He is completely unrecognisable, a man who has been beaten repeatedly - beaten with hammers and batons, and left with injuries across his face, head and body - and he is being denied medical care. He is so physically weakened that he struggles to breathe and is showing severe signs of trauma and psychological distress. He is being denied adequate food, clean water and medical attention. He now fears he is going to die in custody. It is just sadistic and unconscionable how he has been treated. No one should be subjected to torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, never mind a doctor who has dedicated himself to saving lives in the face of such human suffering. I would like us to appeal to the Department and Minister for foreign affairs to outline what diplomatic and urgent action Ireland can take to secure independent medical access for Dr. Abu Safiya, to press for accountability for these disturbing allegations and images we are seeing, to do everything in our power to ensure his release, and to advocate for all medical staff in a humanitarian context who are delivering crucial aid but are under huge attack. We have seen medical staff actively targeted and murdered in Gaza and it is just unfathomable that we can allow this to continue without adding our words to it.