Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source
Okay. It was mentioned that Norway's largest investment fund is divested from 16 companies because of due diligence. It is about this kind of unacceptable risk. We are entitled to say - even though we might not be able to say we are doing this - the risk is too big for us as a country and that we do not want to invest in it because there is a risk. However, the Norwegian Government's pension fund has excluded companies from its investment "due to unacceptable risks that the companies contribute to systematic violation of individuals' rights in situations or war or conflict" and "activities associated with Israeli settlements on the West Bank." That was followed by two other exclusions as late as May of 2021 for the same reasons. Therefore, it is not really the case that we would be an outlier because Norway's biggest pension fund already-----
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