Paul Murphy demands occupied territories bill passed before Christmas

Thanks, that's Ken Corla. Yeah, I welcome the ceasefire. Any relief for the Palestinian people facing genocide is obviously welcome. I would emphasise that a lasting peace will only be built on the basis of justice and there's still definitely no justice for the Palestinian people. My question relates to government policy in this context. I'm concerned that the various commitments that they have been given in the context of a pressure of a massive solidarity movement, massive public support for the Palestinian people, that those commitments will now be forgotten or kicked down the road never to happen. So firstly in relation to the occupied territories bill, will the government, will the Taoiseach give a commitment that that will be passed and implemented before Christmas and will it include trade in goods and services as the Fine Gael candidate for president has now apparently said she's in favour of it. Secondly in relation to the investigation about the overflights, there's an examination ongoing for more than a year now of something that is very simple. Is this just going to simply continue and disappear or are we ever going to get to the bottom of that and action to stop it? And thirdly I've heard you previously Taoiseach say that no airplanes with cargo, military cargo or weapons or soldiers are landing in Shannon airport on the way to Israel. And the ditch has a story saying that on Sunday, Simon Harris authorised the US military plane to refuel at Shannon airport on its way from a Department of War air base to the Nevatim Israel Defence Forces base and it was transporting soldiers or military cargo and stopped over at Shannon airport. That seems to me to be completely wrong. Were you aware of this? Do you agree with granting authorisation for our airport to be used in that way? Thank you, Deputy Rose, Calmer Welsh. Thank you and thanks to all the deputies who have raised a variety of questions. I think Deputy Malcolm Byrne has raised a very, very important issue in terms of Russia's aggression against Europe. And I was at an event in United Nations chaired by Prime Minister Kearney and President Zelensky in respect of the 20,000 and their respective spouses in respect of the 20,000 abducted children. And Ireland is providing support and will continue to provide support. And I would like to be in a position to support certain research in respect of those children to get them back. It's an appalling crime that has occurred in respect of that. And then the deputy has referenced the violation of airspace in Estonia, Romania, Poland and other countries and most recently Denmark. I mean this is where all European leaders were gathering at an informal gathering and the European political community was gathering. And as I've said at that meeting, you know, one accident, two accidents, there's a pattern. And there's a pattern of behaviour from the Russian government, President Putin over the last year and a half on war, which is aggressive and poses a risk to European security and defence, particularly vital subsea critical infrastructure. Many of our utilities through cyber attacks and hybrid attacks, drones or other type of attacks. And the Baltics, Poland and others have experienced these on their territory. It is very serious. There is no sense in this house at all about how grave the situation is. At best you could say it is reckless. It's also happening in the United Kingdom. It's reckless. These hybrid type attacks. And I think we do need a debate on the dialogue on it. To increase the level of awareness in this house as to what actually is happening and what Russia is up to. And I repeat, critical subsea infrastructure is at risk from these kind of activities. Our utilities, we had the HSE attack and so on some years ago, are at risk. And we do have to improve capability. And Deputy Brennan added to this, and I'll come back to Deputy Moinan's point earlier, and Deputy Brennan raised, like, I do believe we have to coordinate with fellow member states in Europe in terms of our, to protect against these cyber attacks, to protect against, to share knowledge, to share information as to where some of the shadow fleet are loitering, where the shadow fleet are loitering, where the shadow fleet are turning up, and so on like that. So we do have to work with our like like-minded member states, you know, in order to make sure that we know what's going on. And that others know what's going on. And that it's coordinated. And we will continue to coordinate and to work with others to gain knowledge and so on. Cyber security can't be defended against without working with others. It's about sharing knowledge, expertise and information. And that's why we have an individually tailored plan with NATO in terms of the issue of cyber security, subsea cables in terms of knowledge and expertise and mentoring and training and so on like that, because it's needed. Because it's needed. And we need to get over any screamishness about that in the world we live in today. Because otherwise, if people don't believe this stuff, your head is in the sand in terms of the threats that are out there now. And Deputy Borne and Brennan have outlined them in no uncertain terms. And that's what I have to say right now. And we are taking all of it very seriously. We had a discussion on energy security earlier. And there is no question. Ships have been loitering. And Russia is gathering information all the time in respect of critical economic infrastructure that everyone in Europe depends on and the world depends on. Deputy Moynihan raised the issue of Sudan. One of the few deputies that has raised. Sudan is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The worst. I spoke with Secretary of the UN at the UN on Sudan. And what's very disquieting about Sudan is the behaviour of other countries in the region who are either supporting one side or the other and using both sides as proxies in this war. Countries who would have a different perspective on Gaza. Okay. And the two don't match that easily. And there is an inconsistency in the approach to say the least. But millions are starving. I think up to 12 to 15 million have been displaced in Sudan. And South Sudan is a challenging position as well. And we are constantly raising it at the European Union and the UN to see what can be done to bring this to a resolution. On Gaza, on Gaza, the Deputy Karoul is correct. And I would pay tribute to President Trump for getting a ceasefire. It should have happened earlier. And I would say that what needs to happen. I thank you for paying tribute to our diplomatic corps because people wanted us to break up diplomatic relations, call back our ambassadors from Israel and other places. You know, our ambassador in Israel has worked hard under a lot of pressure, but has represented Ireland well and Irish citizens, both in Gaza or on the flotilla or wherever. Our ambassador in Israel has been to the fore in providing consular services and doing our best to make sure that all people don't come to any harm. And our ambassador in Cairo has been superb throughout this entire period in facilitating people to leave Gaza. And our ambassadors in Jordan and in the UAE have all worked together. And don't ever underestimate the importance of diplomatic relationships in terms of doing the basic necessities and being there to keep the channel of communications open. And I'm glad we didn't break off diplomatic relations for that reason among others. I also want to pay tribute to the medics of Gaza. I think Dr. Martin Daley, the TD, has raised that with me. And there are people who, as Dr. Daley has suggested to me, written to me, that they should be getting a Nobel Peace Prize for what the medics of Gaza have done in the most extraordinary of circumstances. And on the huge threat to their lives. Many did die. But the work they did is quite exceptional and should be recalled right now. And Deputy Coplingger, you did raise a number of, I mean, again, you have a tendency to distort. We shouldn't be, there's nothing wrong with saying that young musicians, young music followers who were abducted for no reason at all. I just want to make the point. Everything gets qualified. Everything gets caveated. I make no apology for saying it's a good day that those hostages were released. And I did, in this, I said, an end to the slaughter. I've been saying this consistently. If you just check all my remarks on social media, I've been very strong on the genocide against civilians in Gaza, on the slaughter of innocent children. And yes, there's been a lot of detainees without any trials or without any evidence. Others are detained who have history. Like, you'll never condemn Hamas for some reason. I've never heard you condemn Hamas in this room. I've never heard you condemn what Hamas did on October the 7th. Deputy Morphe has never condemned Hamas. Sorry, but that is shocking though. And it deserves debate here. You keep – you're attacking me for not having precision in terms of – We have no use of time for these questions. I find it extraordinary that we don't have unanimity in the House in terms of the condemnation of Hamas's appalling attack. I'm sorry to ask you to conclude. And the – so – and by the way, I have never moved on from Gaza and I don't intend to move on from Gaza. I visited Gaza in 2009 after that war. And we have always been consistent as a country. The party that I lead was the first party in Europe, in government, to recognise the right of Palestinians to a homeland. So it matters to our party. So let's not try and out-virtue each other here. And we'll say what we feel – We'll say it in the context of our informed perspective and evidence-based approach to these issues. And Deputy Morphy in terms of the Occupy Territories Bill is in committee. I've always repeatedly said in terms of services that we need to assess that in terms of – and the Attorney General is coming back to us – on a number of fronts. One, it's implementability, by the way. And the feedback I'm getting is not just implementable. But secondly, are you putting companies based here in a very difficult position through no fault of their own in respect of how that would be treated in the United States? But these are ongoing matters and we're waiting for reports back. And in terms – you've now brought up – I would have to talk to the Attorney General. We've gone way over time. I apologize. I'm sorry. We have to move on to the next order of business. Thank you.