A plan to fly the Palestinian flag above Dublin City Hall will be voted on at tonight’s city council meeting.
The plan, tabled by the Independent Group of councillors, aims to fly the flag from the Dublin landmark “in an act of solidarity with the people of Gaza”.
It calls for the flag to be flown for a week – and suggests the council should show the Palestinian people the same level of support it showed Ukraine last year.
Sinn Fein, the Social Democrats, People before Profit and a number of individual councillors are supporting the emergency motion.
Palestine flag
Independent Group Leader Cllr Cieran Perry told Newstalk he expects to see a majority of the council backing the move.
He noted that over 9,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the last three weeks, including over 3,600 children.
“The flying of the Palestinian flag will show our disgust at the continuation of the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians, and hopefully encourage an immediate ceasefire,” he said.
Cllr Noeleen Reilly said the ongoing assault on Gaza is “sickening”.
“It is absolutely criminal what [people in Gaza] are having to endure,” she told Newstalk.
“Their schools, their hospitals, their homes are being attacked on a daily basis and the main leaders in the world have allowed this to happen.”
She said flying the Palestinian flag will “offer public support for the people of Gaza and increase the pressure for an immediate ceasefire”.
"Indiscriminate slaughter"
The emergency motion reads:
“With the continuing indiscriminate slaughter taking place in Gaza this council agrees to fly the Palestinian flag above City Hall for a week as a sign of solidarity.
“The support for the Ukrainian people shown by Dublin City Council in the aftermath of the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine has set a precedent.
“The indiscriminate targeting of people in Gaza, similar to the indiscriminate targeting of the Ukrainian people, warrants an equivalent public display of opposition to the murder of Palestinian civilians.”
War
The Palestinian Health Ministry has said more than 4,000 children are among the over 10,000 Palestinians who have been killed in nearly one month of Israeli bombings.
Israel began its latest round of attacks after Hamas launched a major offensive on October 7th, killing 1,400 people in Israel and taking around 240 hostages back to Gaza.
Earlier today, Pro-Palestine protestors occupied the Department of Transport in Dublin urging the Government to prevent the US from using Shannon Airport to send weapons or munitions to Israel.
Separately, Israeli authorities said they now believe an Irish child who was believed killed in the Hamas attack is alive and is being held hostage.
