Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in to speak to us. This entire situation is rotten. There are tough lessons for all of us in EU law and in the supremacy of EU law. People are trying to dig down into a piece of regulation that is approximately 70,000 words long. There is an awful lot of detail on it and it is incredibly difficult. This is not simple. If it was simple, we would have it fixed. As the Irish State and the Irish Central Bank, it has clearly been said we do not want to be doing this, but it is out of the hands of the Central Bank and its legal capacity to be able to deny these bonds and the prospectus under the regulation.

I suppose it could be said all this is benefiting two sides. It is benefiting Israel and it is benefiting the Opposition. This is because the country standing up the tallest against Israel, the country seen on the international stage as being the most pro-Palestinian in all of Europe, is seen to be fighting itself and not standing tall against the oppressor. What we have here is civil unrest, political intimidation and intimidation, indeed, I am sure, of the staff of the Central Bank as well. We see political offices and intimidation right around the country. It is all to the benefit of Israel. The bonds too are clearly for the benefit of Israel.

I have a few questions.

We have covered the fact it is not legally permitted to refuse - all the checks and balances are in the regulation - on political or ethical grounds.

As I said, this is an EU competency so we need an EU remedy. When the British left and acted unilaterally, we were all up in arms about unilateral actions on behalf of one member state or whatever. We are all against that, so we need a collective action. Has the Central Bank sought guidance from the European Securities and Markets Authority or European Commission on that legal question and on what can be done? Obviously, this Government and country must continue at a European level to bring in those sanctions, equivalent to the Russian sanctions, but that would end up preventing the Central Bank from being able to do this and that regulation would not even come up in September. What would those sanctions or changes look like at an EU level in order for the Central Bank to stop having to do this? If the Irish Government did pass this law, would sanctions be imposed on the Central Bank for refusing? The Central Bank is obliged under EU law. It still would be even though there would be a national law. EU law is supreme over national law, so where would that leave Central Bank in this entangled affair? If a national law was passed and the Central Bank went against EU law, would it be exposed to legal action by the Commission for infringement, by Israel itself or by the issuer? Is there a contingency? Could there be any contingency or risk planning in the event of that ever happening? We are all in agreement here that we want this to stop but we disagree on the best way to do so.