Israel's actions in Gaza 'genocidal', Tánaiste Micheál Martin says
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Israel's actions in Gaza are a genocide, the Tánaiste has said.
Speaking exclusively to the , Micheál Martin said he is "comfortable" using the phrase, adding that Ireland wants to expand its legal definition for some of the actions of Israeli forces in Palestine in the last year.
Mr Martin has previously declined to use the term, most notably in an interview with Virgin Media's Group Chat podcast in recent weeks, but told the that Israel's actions are "genocidal".
South Africa has taken a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing it of a genocide in Gaza with Ireland indicating that it would intervene in the case in March.
Speaking in the Dáil earlier this month, Mr Martin said that it has always been the Government’s intention to file its declaration after South Africa has filed its memorial in the case.
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The Government has sought legal advice on the Occupied Territories Bill following the non-binding advisory opinion of the UN’s top court that said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories breaks international laws and must end.
Asked if he was comfortable using the term genocide for what is happening in Gaza, Mr Martin said he is, but that the more important issue is seeking legal sanction for Israel's actions.
"It is genocidal, what is happening in Gaza, particularly in northern Gaza at the moment.
"I've been very steady, focusing on the practical issue of substance on what legal grounds are we going to seek to get international accountability to Israel for what's happening?
"Under the Genocide Convention, the thresholds are too high. So what we're endeavouring to do as a government will be to invite the court to broaden the criteria by which genocide is determined to include denial of humanitarian corridors, to include denial of facilitation of humanitarian aid going in, and particularly the obligations of the occupying power."
He said what has been happening in Gaza has been "absolutely horrific in terms of all the material that's available outside Gaza, in medical assistance, equipment, aid, medicines, food, water, fuel, all being denied on the spurious grounds of dual use".
"And so that's work I've been doing practically and of substance over the last year on this issue.
"It's not the stuff that grabs the headlines and/or the soundbites that a lot of people who are anti-government on this will articulate.
"But it will have impact, ultimately. But not in time for the horrific slaughter that's going on and suffering that families are going through in Gaza and indeed in the West Bank as well, and indeed now in Lebanon.
"I think for what Israel is doing, it needs to be held accountable before the international courts. These are war crimes."
Mr Martin said he believes that the ICJ's case is the strongest route to alter the EU-Israel trade agreement.
In the first of the 's podcast interviews with party leaders, Mr Martin rejected the notion that the Fianna Fáil manifesto is lacking in ambition or has any real "game-changer" ideas.
He pointed to the party's commitments in health and disability.
The party's manifesto would create a system where therapy would be carried out in schools and would add more therapists across the country and an additional €15m for respite services.
"I think there's a fundamental game changer in special education, for example, in terms of multi-disciplinary therapy based teams in situ in all special schools, beginning with all special schools, Deis plus schools and special classes.
"So putting therapists into schools is a big game changer and is a red line issue for us.
"The bread and butter of education is the pupil-teacher ratio back down to 19 to one. It's at 23 now. No one else is proposing that. We want it down to 19 to one. We're proposing a 40% increase in capitation grants. These are essential in terms of the ongoing development of education."
On housing, Mr Martin said that supply was the only way to drive down record house prices, despite analysis in Britain which suggests supply has a limited and slow impact in bringing down prices.
The Fianna Fáil plan proposes keeping and expanding the Help to Buy scheme, but Mr Martin says that he has no worries about that scheme becoming impossible to unwind.
"The Central Bank is very clear that the Help to Buy has actually helped first-time buyers to get a deposit and to deal with liquidity issues in terms of getting enough money to put the deposit down and buy homes.
It says that in its 2023 report, and it says that there's no evidence of inflationary impacts on prices despite what gets said about them.
"That's exactly what we want to do. We want to help first-time buyers to be in a position to at least afford to buy houses that are coming on the market."
Asked what price he would be comfortable seeing his own children paying for a home, Mr Martin said that it would be "up to them to decide if they are overpaying" and would depend on their salaries.
However, asked why government affordable housing schemes had not been linked to salaries, he said that "you can't tie yourself up in knots... in terms of complexity of administration schemes".
On his relations with Fine Gael, Mr Martin said that he had not been engaged in "any phoney war" with Taoiseach Simon Harris.
Asked if Mr Harris bore responsibility for the overspend on the National Children's Hospital, Mr Martin said that the "government of the day does" and when pushed said that Mr Harris does carry some of the responsibility.
"I think the government of the day does. Mistakes were made, and the fundamental mistake was the design wasn't finalised before the contract was signed. That's what the PwC report, I think, focuses in on. And equally, I think BAM's performance has led to huge questions and criticisms as well."
In 2019, Mr Martin had said that Mr Harris was "not up to the job" of health minister because of the spending at the hospital, which has ballooned to €2.3bn.
He said that “no one had asked any hard questions,” at Cabinet at the time.
Speaking on Wednesday, he said that "maybe the HSE should have taken over the project then and there, and not have another layer [the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board]".
In the podcast, available online now, Mr Martin also pledged to serve a full term if elected by the people of Cork South-Central once more.