Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed by the Government's response, particularly given how it was conveyed by the Minister of State who moved Second Stage of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 in the Dáil. The Government’s response smacks of double standards. I will put it in context. On 28 February 2022, the ICC prosecutor, Mr. Khan, announced that he had begun the process of a formal investigation into the situation in Ukraine. It was 2 March that Ireland joined other states in referring the situation to the ICC. Clearly, the fact that the ICC already had a process in train was no barrier to additional referrals being made. The same would be true in the case of Palestine. Ireland was one of 41 states that signed the referral. Why did 41 do so when, according to the logic set out by the Government tonight, just one would have been enough? It was because each of those 41 governments rightly clung to the view that each signatory added a political impetus to, and strengthened the mandate of, the ICC prosecutor. The same would be true in the case of Palestine. On top of the referral that Ireland co-signed, Lithuania submitted a separate referral in respect of Ukraine. It was considered a welcome intervention and an additional direction to the prosecutor. The same would be true in the case of Palestine.

Tonight, what we have seen from the Government, which did not even have the manners to send a Minister to this debate, is a set a excuses for why it does not have to refer the actions of Israel in Gaza to the ICC. However, not a single viable reason for that has been given. The Government can and should make this referral. If Ireland is to maintain its credibility on international law when so many world leaders, particularly in the EU, have lost theirs, we must be consistent. For all that the Irish Government is better than many on this issue, there remains a glaring inconsistency between the approach to Ukraine and the approach to Palestine. There are multiple instances where more than one referral was made to the ICC in respect of the same territory, and not once were those who made the referrals accused of politicising the ICC, a charge that another Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, said would be made against Ireland were we to ask the ICC to investigate what were the most heinous and grotesque breaches of international law happening in the world right now. He did not say who precisely would make that charge, but we can guess who he was afraid of. Under Article 14.2, Ireland is entitled to request that the ICC prosecutor focus on the specific crimes that have been committed in Palestine since 7 October. The Government’s argument is that the current referral by the state of Palestine covers this period, but I hope that the Minister of State knows that, while that referral includes a broad call for an investigation into Israeli actions since 2014, it specifies instances that do not include the recent atrocities committed in Gaza.

The most spurious argument of all was that the Government signed the Ukraine referral because Ukraine had not previously been a signatory to the ICC whereas there was no need to in respect of Palestine. Due to Ukraine not being a signatory to the Rome Statute, it deserved to have 40 plus countries refer the matter, but because the state of Palestine has signed up to international law, it must stand alone.

What we have had tonight are shameful excuses and blatant double standards.

Strong words must be met by action. The most basic action that Ireland can take is to exercise its right to refer the warmongering Israeli regime to the only international authority that has the remit to investigate. I appeal to the Government and Independent Deputies to do the right thing by rejecting the Government's watery counter-resolution and supporting the Sinn Féin motion as the very least that Ireland can do. If we do not take this step, the Government must answer what precisely it intends to do other than utter words. The people of Palestine need much more than words.

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