Mr. Brian ? ?igeartaigh:

I thank the committee for inviting the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign today. I am not here to give any particular legal insight. The IPSC is guided by international law but we are not a legalistic organisation. Nor am I here to speak to the intricacies of state investment policies; we are not policy obsessives. I am here to represent the view of the street of the tens of thousands of people who march every week, take actions big and small and display their love and solidarity with the Palestinian people in countless creative ways. I am here to represent the 80% of people in Ireland who understand that they are seeing a live-streamed genocide unfold, the 70% who understand that Israel is an apartheid regime and the 70% who want to see sanctions imposed on Israel. They are who I represent today. There is a mass movement for Palestine in Ireland right now. The latest two demonstrations the IPSC organised each brought 100,000 people onto the streets of Dublin. If 100,000 people marching in the capital does not make the Government sit up and take notice, I am pretty sure that every TD up for re-election understands very well that there is not a town in Ireland where there have not been demonstrations, actions and marches for Palestine over the past five months. The target of people's anger is not just the genocidal apartheid regime in Israel. People's anger has been directed at the Irish Government for what we see as the lack of real, tangible, action to end the genocide and help achieve justice for the Palestinian people.

It is not hard to see why. Over the past few years, various constituent parts of the Oireachtas have supported Bills, motions and reports calling for a much stronger line from the Government. There was majority support in both Houses of the Oireachtas for the now-frozen Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. In May 2021, a motion recognising Israel's de facto annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank passed in the Dáil unanimously. The motion called on the State not to render aid or assistance in maintaining this situation. In July 2021, an Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence report called for concrete diplomatic and economic measures to be applied where Israel violates international law and again called on the State not to render aid or assistance to Israel which would facilitate the maintenance of annexation. Last month, the Seanad unanimously passed a comprehensive motion calling on the Government to impose sanctions on Israel; to enact the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023 and to actively ensure no weapons are sent to Israel through Irish airspace. The Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, compared Israel to a rogue state and An Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, said that we can no longer treat Israel as though it were a normal, liberal, western democracy. Yet, to date, nothing has been done. No action has been taken, there are no sanctions; nothing.

As result of inaction like this all over the world, the Israel state is emboldened to continue its heinous crimes, now culminating in genocide.

Today, this committee has called witnesses on the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill. Obviously, we support the Bill. There is no way that Irish taxpayers' money should be invested in any entity that aids the construction and maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine. Ending this blatant complicity is a no-brainer. Indeed, it is the very least that common sense and human decency - not to mention international law - demands.

We have heard that there are perhaps trade and other laws that will prevent the type of action that people in Ireland wish to see with regard to Israel. We say to that, if the law becomes an obstacle to justice, it is time to challenge that law. In the end, it is actions, not words, that will help the Palestinian people achieve their freedom.

Ireland has just exited the so-called decade of centenaries marking Ireland's partially successful defeat of British imperialism in Ireland, which was a process that resonated around the globe and precipitated the ultimate defeat of most of the British empire. One hundred years later, we propose it is time for Ireland to take the first steps in defeating a new hegemon. That is the hegemon of silence, inaction and complicity with regard to Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people. We can be a beacon for the world and we can be a ray of hope for the Palestinian people. If not now, in the time of a genocide, then when?

Over a decade ago, in the wake of Israel's Operation Cast Lead military onslaught, we in the IPSC submitted a parliamentary question asking what crime Israel has to commit in order for Ireland to impose sanctions. The question was ruled out of order for allegedly being rhetorical. Therefore, I take this opportunity to ask the following question in an entirely non-rhetorical manner. We have seen Israel committing illegal occupation, annexation, mass incarceration, extrajudicial executions, collective punishment, apartheid, genocide and now the weaponisation of starvation. Is there, in fact, any crime for which our Government will punish Israel?