Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

A decision was taken on 10 July to divest, just as the NTMA was going to release its annual report - to save face. That is the reality. Mr. O'Connor will get a chance to rebut that but that is exactly what the NTMA did - to save face - because the Irish public is disgusted that the NTMA is investing its money into buying war bonds. Kids are being ripped apart by these bullets and bombs and we cannot say we did not fund them, or at least the NTMA did not fund them on behalf of the Irish State. What has happened is shameful - the fact that the NTMA increased its investment. It could have divested at any time. Even if it bought the index fund, it could have sold them the next morning, second or hour, as it did after 10 July. Is that not the case?