I handed the Tánaiste a letter this week from Zak Hania's wife. He is an Irish citizen trapped in Gaza and is not being allowed out by Israel. She is appealing to the Tánaiste to assist him. Two other Irish citizens contacted me who are also trapped. They are in effect being held hostage by Israel. I want to know what the Government is doing to try to get them out and what it has said to the Israelis or European counterparts about the fact Israel is preventing Irish citizens from leaving the horror of Gaza. I also …

I do not think the Tánaiste should have gone to Israel. That is my view.

No, I think the European Union-----

The European Union-----

-----should crack the whip on Israel over the treatment of our citizens.

Do you think it is acceptable that Israel is holding our citizens hostage?

What credibility has the European Union for allowing citizens to be treated in that way?

Thousands of people will be outside the Dáil tonight asking the Government to finally discharge its responsibilities under the genocide convention to prevent the commission of an ongoing genocide. It is a matter of shame that as a former colony that was a victim of colonialism, of apartheid laws such as the penal laws, and of brutal suppression of our attempts to assert our independence, we stand by and allow the Palestinians to be massacred. The Minister of State danced around it and talked about strongly consider…

The children's disability network teams are sometimes made up of staff who are HSE employees and other times involve workers from Enable Ireland. The latter are section 39 workers and are on lesser pay and conditions than the former. There is a big impact as a consequence of that because teams that are staffed by section 39 workers are having much more difficulty in recruiting people as a result of the fact that inferior pay and conditions apply. This is having serious consequences. To give the Taoiseach an example…

They are doing the same job.

What are we going to do about it?

I also repeat the issue about the film workers. Over the new year the WRC issued an absolutely damning ruling on the treatment of 38 members of the Irish Film Workers’ Association and established they had been blacklisted by Metropolitan Films International, which is probably the biggest recipient of section 481, and that their rights under the fixed-term workers legislation had been abused. The point is the Irish Film Workers’ Association and some of us in this House have been saying what was done in this case is …

I first raised with the Taoiseach in Taoiseach's Questions in the middle of November the Government's responsibility and obligations under the Genocide Convention. I have repeatedly raised it with him since and tried to explain it to him in multiple interventions, including in a Dáil motion in November. We are still discussing motions, and did so again this week, but the Government is clearly failing to discharge those responsibilities while the genocide continues in Gaza. When I first raised it with the Taoiseach …

What is the point of the convention then?

Thousands of people will gather outside the Dáil at 5.30 this evening to express their absolute outrage and fury at the genocidal massacre Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza as we speak, blowing children, mothers and innocent civilians to bits, blowing up residential buildings, schools, hospitals, churches and mosques, starving the people of water, food and electricity, and systematically destroying the infrastructure necessary for the sustenance of human existence. This is a genocide. Much of the fury of t…

I move amendment No. 5: To delete "demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, and the cessation of indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel;” and substitute with the following: "demands the immediate, unconditional and simultaneous release of all Palestinian internees/hostages held by Israel in addition to all hostages held by Hamas or and other armed groups in Gaza, and the immediate and simultaneous cessation of Israel's murderous assault …

I move amendment No. 6: To delete "strongly consider an intervention in the South Africa v Israel case at the ICJ, as a matter of urgency after the Court has made its order on preliminary measures and the filing by South Africa of its memorial in the case, which is the only appropriate process to do so and following the necessary legal and policy analysis;" and substitute the following: "commit to an intervention and an immediate public statement supporting South Africa's case against Israel at the ICJ and supporti…

It is not agreed.

I welcome the decision of the Government, albeit belated, to concede to a debate on Gaza that we asked for. I object that the Government motion in this has only come out in the past 20 minutes or so and we have been given five minutes from now to put in amendments. This is completely unacceptable, especially given the failure of the Government to accede to the request of those concerned about Israel's genocide to actively and publicly support South Africa's action against Israel for genocide in Gaza. I also express…

-----the left who criticise Israel for apartheid are somehow guilty of antisemitism.