Holly Cairns: Condemns Israeli Seizure of Flotilla, Demands Action
Holly Cairns condemns the Israeli Defence Forces' boarding of the Samud flotilla in international waters and the illegal detention of 12 Irish citizens, including Tom Deasy and Dr. Margaret Connolly. Speaking in the Dáil, Cairns criticises the government's slow response and demands concrete action, including enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill and measures to stop munitions passing through Irish airspace.
Immediate condemnation and detained Irish citizens
Holly Cairns lays out the facts of the incident: humanitarian activists attempting to bring food, medicine and baby formula to Gaza were intercepted in international waters and detained. Among those taken were a constituent, Tom Deasy, and the sister of the President, Dr. Margaret Connolly. Cairns describes the detention as unprecedented and calls the government response inadequate.
Why activists acted and family impact
Cairns explains that years of escalating violence, deaths, illegal detentions and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza have driven Irish citizens to act. She relays the distress and pride of Tom Deasy's family and warns that detainees' safety depends on decisions by Israeli authorities. The speech stresses the human cost behind the headlines.
Demands on the government
Cairns challenges the Taoiseach to stop excuses and to use the state's powers: enact the Occupied Territories Bill, consider divestment measures, and block munitions transits through Irish airspace. She argues that words of condemnation are not enough and that legal and diplomatic levers must be used to protect civilians and uphold international law.
Context and consequences
The address situates the flotilla seizure within a broader pattern of settler violence and destruction in the West Bank and a prolonged humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Cairns warns that continued inaction risks more citizens putting themselves in harm's way and calls for immediate legislative and diplomatic steps to create consequences for breaches of international law.
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Taoiseach, yesterday Israel committed yet another blatant breach of international law. The Israeli Defence Forces boarded a flotilla in international waters and kidnapped humanitarian activists including 12 Irish citizens again. They took this action not because the flotilla posed any kind of threat but to stop humanitarian aid reaching a starving population in Gaza. The activists on the flotilla were kidnapped for simply trying to bring them food, medicine and baby formula. Among those kidnapped was one of my constituents Tom Deasy from Clonacilty and the president's sister Dr. Margaret Connolly, a Sligo GP. Twelve Irish citizens including the sister of our head of state illegally detained. It is completely unprecedented. Not that you would have known that from the government's response because it took you 12 hours to issue a four-line statement about it. This isn't just deeply disappointing, it is utterly pathetic. For more than two years we've heard daily reports of Palestinian people being killed, injured and illegally detained. Meanwhile settler violence in the West Bank is at record levels with Palestinian villages and homes being razed to the ground and yet still there have been no sanctions against Israel and crucially no enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill despite your big commitments when you're electioneering. Antitag I believe that lack of action from this government is what has driven the Irish citizens on the flotilla to take action themselves. To leave their families to board boats in the full awareness they will likely be illegally captured by the IDF. Their safety not guaranteed. I spoke to Tom DC's sister Ciara this morning. Her family now believe he'll be forcibly transferred to a port in Palestinian territories in the next two hours. No word on his safety and they won't until Israel decides to share that information. Israel holds all the power here because they know there are no consequences for their actions. The past two years have shown us all that. Ciara told me how worried sick she is but more than that how proud she is of her brother. She said to me I quote the people on the flotilla have been shouting for Palestine for a long time now. Now it's time to shout for them in order to get people in power to act. Taoiseach you are one of those people. You have the power to stop munitions going through the airspace. Thank you Deputy. You have the power to stop the You have the power to act. Time is up Deputy Taoiseach will respond. So why won't you? Well first of all could I first of all extend my deepest sympathies to the family of Mr. Sikila and say that the full circumstances of what happened there needs to be examined and investigated fully and thoroughly and I understand that FISRU is also has been notified and is involved in that and it's an independent statutory body but the situation is deeply concerning and very concerning to many many people who witnessed it and I just want to put that just to make that point and obviously we can't preempt the outcome of any such investigation. Could I say in respect of the Israeli action in terms of the flotilla the Samud flotilla in international waters and the detention of those on board I strongly condemn what the Israeli government has done and condemn the action of the Israeli military forces as I have done previously and as we did very early on and your picky attitude to timing is just wrong and unnecessary but I would just make the point that we've and we will engage and are with the Israeli government in terms of the release of all our citizens who've been wrongfully detained by Israeli military in international waters it's unacceptable behavior and the and let's be clear the humanitarian situation in Gaza is equally unacceptable and has been for quite some time and the idea that and again very often what tends to happen is people very quickly pivot away from attacking the Israeli government and want to attack the Irish government more than attacking the Israeli government seems to be the standard course of action here which I don't think is adds a whole lot to trying to help the overall situation in Palestine most Palestinians I meet and when I meet the Palestinian Authority are people in the area very appreciative of the succession successive actions that the Irish government has taken on this question we have given a lot of support to the Palestinian people and rightly so we've allocated about 144 million by the end of 2026 in support of the Palestinian people that's not insignificant we've consistently supported UNRWA and we've given 68 million since 2023 and we intervened in the South Africa and Africa's International Court of Justice case against Israel under the Genocide Convention we made a submission to the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of Israel's actions in the occupied territories we subsequently co-sponsored a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly back in 24 which sought to implement the court's advisory opinion we recognize Palestine as a sovereign and independent state we've organized medical evacuations of sick children from Gaza along with their family members for treatment and plans are ongoing for further missions and we support with over 300. Thank you Taoiseach, time is up. Deputy Kearns to respond. Deputy Kearns. Taoiseach, asking you to live up to your election promises isn't attacking you that should be the bare minimum you said that you would act the occupied territories bill and all this government has done for 16 months is find excuses to delay it so back and forth to the AG over and over again looking for advice that we know the AG in the previous government was the same and we know the advice was to go ahead now you've run out of steam with that excuse so you're going for we need all of Europe to act it's excuse after excuse and the words of condemnation are welcome but what I'm asking about is action action on the occupied territories bill on the divestment bill there are so many actions that this government could take and the point the brave point that these people on board the flotilla are making is that there needs to be action not just words and like his sister said it's time for you to use your voice to use your power to do something about this instead of people continuing to feel like they need to go put their own lives at risk trying to get aid into Gaza. Taoiseach to respond now. Look I disagree with your fundamental premise here people know my voice on Gaza and the Middle East to note in the European Union but in the Foreign Affairs Council as Foreign Minister they knew it back in 2007 when I went to Gaza I don't really need lectures from you in terms of my sincerity about Gaza but what I would say to you is this I I appreciate I appreciate what those on the flotilla are doing and if we pass the occupied territories bill in the morning there would still be a flotilla and I understand why there would be because when we all that what I listed out earlier every time if you look back at the debate before we did the recognition go back into the debate before we intervened in the South African case all of you were saying if only you do this it will it will achieve a fundamental change in Israel's position we did all of that for our own we did it for the right reasons because we think it's the right thing to do but has it impacted on Israeli behavior let's be honest it hasn't passing and the minister we progressed occupied territories thank you deputies will it change thank you time is up that's the key issue if I could thank you yes time is up time is up t-shirt thank you and just deputy Stanley you might indulge me
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