Conor D McGuinness: Get Irish Maternity Unit into Gaza
Conor D McGuinness challenged the Minister over an Irish-funded mobile maternity unit now stuck in Egypt and prevented from entering Gaza. He called for urgent diplomatic intervention, raised the mistreatment of Irish volunteers from the Global Flotilla, and demanded decisive action including the Occupied Territories Bill.
Conor D McGuinness outlined that a mobile maternity unit fundraised in West Waterford is currently held in Egypt and blocked by Israeli authorities from entering Gaza. He pressed the Minister to intervene with Egypt, the UN and relevant agencies to secure passage for this Irish-funded, life-saving medical resource.
He linked the blockage to a wider pattern of attacks on medical and humanitarian facilities, citing the interdiction of the Global Flotilla and the detention and mistreatment of volunteers, including 14 Irish citizens. McGuinness urged the government to make time next week to pass the Occupied Territories Bill - and said Ireland should consider unilateral measures if European partners continue to enable the status quo.
The Minister replied that his experience on the ground showed Israeli authorities were taking decisions that prevent aid from reaching Gaza. He said he would engage with his team in Egypt and with his counterpart Minister Abdi-El-Essi, and confirmed he will bring forward legislation on the Occupied Territories Bill in the coming weeks.
Mobile unit and diplomatic urgency
Conor D McGuinness outlined that a mobile maternity unit fundraised in West Waterford is currently held in Egypt and blocked by Israeli authorities from entering Gaza. He pressed the Minister to intervene with Egypt, the UN and relevant agencies to secure passage for this Irish-funded, life-saving medical resource.
Humanitarian context and legislative pressure
He linked the blockage to a wider pattern of attacks on medical and humanitarian facilities, citing the interdiction of the Global Flotilla and the detention and mistreatment of volunteers, including 14 Irish citizens. McGuinness urged the government to make time next week to pass the Occupied Territories Bill - and said Ireland should consider unilateral measures if European partners continue to enable the status quo.
Ministerial response and next steps
The Minister replied that his experience on the ground showed Israeli authorities were taking decisions that prevent aid from reaching Gaza. He said he would engage with his team in Egypt and with his counterpart Minister Abdi-El-Essi, and confirmed he will bring forward legislation on the Occupied Territories Bill in the coming weeks.
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Transcript
Minister, I raise the situation of the mobile maternity unit fundraised for by Gaelar Sáin Gaza in West Waterford that's now stuck in Egypt, prevented from entering Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces and I understand that Irish diplomats in Egypt are seeking a resolution, but will you urgently intervene with Egypt, with the UN and all relevant agencies to get this Irish funded and very much needed mobile maternity unit into Gaza and in the same week that we saw the Global Assault Flotilla illegally interdicted humanitarian volunteers including 14 Irish citizens who have since been released, detained, mistreated, denied proper consular access. We see this as a wider pattern, Israel's genocide in Gaza, its destruction of hospitals, murder of medics, attacks on ambulances, I mean it is part and parcel of the genocide, this attack on medical and humanitarian facilities. So this punitive and exterminationist regime has to be called to heel and Ireland must act decisively. Minister will government make time next week to pass the Occupied Territories Bill, goods and services included, and as Israel continues to thumb its nose at the international community, to bask in its impunity and to gloat in the face of the deepening humanitarian crisis it has created, will you finally concede that it is time that we take unilateral action if our so-called European partners continue to enable and protect Israel and its colossal crimes against humanity? Thank you Deputy. My experience and certainly what I saw when I was on the ground in Rafah at the beginning of the year was not the inaction by the Egyptian government or indeed our own officials, it was the preventing of whether it was aid or whether it was these types of supports by the Israeli government. I am very happy to engage directly with my team on the ground to see what the current situation is. I am very happy to engage with Minister Abdi-El-Essi who I met there, who is my counterpart in Egypt to see if there is any possibility, but again my experience is that this decision is taken solely by the Israeli authorities and as we have seen and as I have said a number of times today, they are prohibiting and preventing this type of life-saving treatment from getting in which is completely unacceptable. I have also been very clear that I will bring forward legislation on the OTB in the coming weeks as well.