John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

The symbolism of this Bill coming before the Dáil the day after the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, is a reminder of the long and ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people and the failure of the international community to deliver justice. The Bill is designed to compel the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund to divest itself of all current assets and prohibit future investments in any companies operating in the illegal Israeli settlements that are included on the UN database of companies which operate within the illegal Israeli settlements. These settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, their maintenance and expansion are illegal under international law and constitute acts which incur individual criminal liability as war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. We should also recall the commitment by this Dáil on 25 May 2021, when it adopted a historic Sinn Féin motion on de facto annexation, pledging to focus its efforts on bringing an end to the illegal settlement activity. Speaking for the Government, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, stated that the scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel's actions on settlements, demolitions and evictions was de factoannexation.

He also stated the motion signalled our concern at undermining prospects for peace and the two-state solution and that it sent a clear signal of the depth of feeling across Ireland.

However, two years on and the State is still trading with and, through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, investing public moneys in, illegal settlement enterprises in contravention of international law. This means Ireland is profiteering on the back of Israeli war crimes. I have no doubt but that the current depth of feeling in Ireland is one of simply being appalled and outraged at the revelation that the Government has made taxpayers stakeholders in war crimes. Ireland is profiteering at the expense of peace and justice when the Irish Government's stated position is to support a two-state solution, which is being eroded on a daily basis by settlement expansion. The Government is hypocritically undermining its own declared position. Already this year, Israel has green-lit more settlement expansion, fast-tracking a Bill for 7,000 new settlement units in the E1 area, which will lead to a complete fragmentation of the West Bank, to sit alongside the 700,000 colonial settlers in the 300 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The UN Human Rights Council, which published the database of 112 companies to which the Bill refers, passed Resolution 31/36, which obligates all states to desist from recognising or assisting in actions that enable the expansion of the illegal settlements. It is important to note that of the nine companies in which ISIF has invested Irish taxpayers' money, four are Israeli banks. The four Israeli banks in which the Irish State is a shareholder are on the UN database due to the provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of these settlements, and to banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain settlements and their activities, including loans for housing and the development of businesses.

As evidenced by a growing body of legal experts, human rights organisations and UN experts, settlements are a key component of Israel's apartheid regime over the Palestinian people. Former UN special rapporteur Professor Michael Lynk stated that "Israel has imposed upon Palestine an apartheid reality in a post-apartheid world". According to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Micheál Martin, settlements are illegal under international law and Israel must not make any provision to advance settlement authorisation and development. Given his statement and the Government's stance on illegal settlements, how can the Government parties offer anything but full support for the Bill?

The facts speak for themselves. The Government is fully aware of the reality of the choice it must make today. The Bill reflects a sovereign decision for the Government to make. It cannot attempt to go to ground and hide behind the fig leaf of EU trade rules, as it has attempted to do in the past on the occupied territories Bill. Does the Dáil do what is right or does it allow a situation to continue whereby the State has made the Irish taxpayer complicit in supporting the existence and expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories? There is a real imbalance between the Government's stated political position and the economic position evident through the ISIF investments. The Bill gives an opportunity to rectify the wrongdoing and adopt a principled position that is consistent with the universal implementation of international law.

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