Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

So it is correct. The NTMA has made the point in the past that it was seeking to divest. Maybe I will return to that because it is important. Some of the directed investments mentioned earlier, which are under the control of ISIF and are not pooled investments, are in banks. Taxpayers are appalled that their money is going to the likes of Leumi Bank, which is one of the largest banks in Israel. For decades this bank has facilitated the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied territories. In 2022, it granted a loan for a construction project in the Palestinian village of Azzun. These are territories that are being taken from Palestinian people. Everybody knows what is happening is illegal and yet we are using taxpayers' money to finance these banks that are profiting from this illegal activity. That is not the only one. The entity in question has bankrolled five illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. It is also bankrolling one in the Golan Heights. It is bankrolling the illegal Israeli settlement councils. Do you know how that is being done? It is being done with Irish taxpayers' money. That is the problem.

Leumi Bank is not alone. Bank Hapoalim funded 646 housing units in four illegal settlements in the West Bank in 2021. In 2020, it funded 601 housing units there. It is also bankrolling a number of illegal settler councils in the occupied territories. Motorola is the supplier of the 4G cellular network to the Israeli military, which that is using that technology to ensure that bombs are raining down on innocent men, women and children in Gaza as we speak. We are investing in these companies and facilitating what is happening. The NTMA previously indicated that it was looking at ways of divesting, but is it?