Palestinian flag to be flown at Offaly County Council's buildings in February

THE Palestinian flag is to be flown above the Council's buildings in Birr, Tullamore and Edenderry throughout the month of February expressing the County's solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Councillors unanimously agreed to show this act of solidarity during their monthly meeting in Áras an Chontae in January.

Sinn Féin Cllr Claire Murray proposed the motion, which was seconded: “Sinn Féin are asking that all Offaly's Council buildings in Tullamore, Birr and Edenderry fly the Palestinian Flag in solidarity with the Palestinian people for the month of February. The importance of expressing our solidarity with the tens of thousands who have died and the hundreds of thousands that have been injured, orphaned, displaced and starved is more important than ever.”

Cllr Seán O'Brien said he supported the Motion, adding that it's not without precedent because the City Councils in Dublin and Cork agreed some months ago to fly the flag above their buildings. The Councillor said that what has happened in Gaza is heart-breaking and many of the refugees have no homes to go back to because of the vast destruction.

He added that there are dozens of Palestinian refugees living in Tullamore. “They are lovely people,” he remarked. “Some of them are taking part in Tidy Towns.”

Cllr Murray told the meeting that a year ago the local authority had decided to not fly the Palestinian flag, but the councillors' attitude has changed since then. “Since then Ireland has officially recognised the state of Palestine and has announced its support of South Africa's proposal to charge Israel with genocide in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).”

Cllr Murray said the loss of life in Gaza has been enormous, with 40,000 killed and 147,000 injured. 70% of them are women and children.

“The ICJ, which is the UN's top court,” Cllr Murray pointed out, “has said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is against international law, and that Israel should stop settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and end its "illegal" occupation of those areas and the Gaza Strip as soon as possible.”

She said Sinn Féin welcomes this week's ceasefire “but it doesn't make my motion null and void. In fact it's a temporary ceasefire and therefore we still need to take this stand.”

Cllr John Leahy seconded Cllr Murray's motion. “It's evident that the directive from central government on this conflict has changed,” he commented.

Cllr Peter Ormond said the Fianna Fáil Group in the Council “are happy to support the motion.”

“What is happening in Gaza is one of the horrors of our time,” remarked Cllr O'Brien, “along with other horrors in Sudan, Ukraine and Syria. The starvation, the desolation, in Gaza has been heartrending.”

Cllr Liam Quinn said the Fine Gael Group in the Council was “happy to support the motion.”

Cllr Seán Maher said the cycle of violence must stop and genocide mustn't be allowed to happen again. “Both the Palestinians and the Israelis need to sit down and forge a peace deal, something like the Good Friday Agreement.”