Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I move:

That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to empower the Minister for Finance to make regulations imposing certain restrictive measures in respect of securities issued by or on behalf of the State of Israel; and to provide for related matters.

Israel is committing genocide. A population bombed relentlessly is now on the brink of starvation. Some 14,000 babies are hours away from death. This is no famine; this is hunger as a weapon. Palestinian men, women and children are being exterminated as the world watches on. Arms shipments and preferential trade - it is sickening. It makes a mockery of so-called western values and European values when you scratch the surface and they are colonial values underneath. Irish liberation and Irish republicanism are anti-colonial movements. That is the history that shapes the Irish people, and we stand firmly on the side of Palestine in this dark hour.

The inaction of this Government is a disrespect to our history - every Israeli arms shipment that passes through our airspace, every excuse and delay to the occupied territories Bill, every day our Central Bank facilitates the sale of Israeli war bonds. Many people still do not know but would be horrified to find out that Ireland is playing a key role in Israel raising money in Europe for its genocide. Our Central Bank provides permission to sell war bonds across the European Union - not any other central bank; it is only the Irish Central Bank that gives such permission. These are not normal financial instruments. Israel is openly advertising this as a way of supporting its so-called war effort. This, however, is not a war. We are being made complicit in funding genocide and it runs completely against the will of the Irish people. This came to light before the election last year from reporting from The Ditch. I raised it with the Central Bank and the Minister for Finance. The Central Bank said it needed guidance from the Government. The Minister washed his hands, saying it was the Central Bank's decision. He tried to pass it off as business as usual in the face of genocide. Shamefully, we heard the same yesterday from the Taoiseach.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice concluded that Israel's occupation of Palestine is illegal and urged member states "to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal ... [settlements]". That is exactly what we are doing in this legislation; we are following international law, ending any complicity in funding genocide. I and Deputy McDonald here, the sponsors of this Bill, took every effort to make sure this legislation is watertight because we feared the Government would use any excuse to delay or oppose it. I thank the independent Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers. The work it has done on the legal opinion and the drafting of this legislation is first-class. The legal opinion concluded that "we can provide for restricted access to financial services on the basis of public policy grounds that are rooted in Ireland's fundamental interest in pursuing its international law obligations". Let us be clear, then, that the legal advice is that this Bill is constitutionally compliant, compatible with EU law and in accordance with international law. Therefore, any blocking of this legislation would be a political choice. It is important we drop the myth that is coming from the Government and that it is is trying to peddle that this is somehow not allowed under EU law and that the Government cannot interfere with the Central Bank. All of that is nonsense. The Central Bank has made it clear that the Government can intervene. The Central Bank wrote a letter to the finance committee and made it clear that it can refuse the approval only where it has a legal basis to do so. It went on to outline the two legal bases it would require: by either EU financial sanctions or national restrictive measures to the same effect. That is what this Bill does. It provides for national restrictive measures that have the same effect and that will end the sale of Israeli war bonds through the Irish Central Bank.

This has happened before. Direction has been given to the Central Bank before in the context of Russia. The Government needs to be straight with the Irish people. The Bill will give the Minister for Finance the explicit power to intervene to stop Israel using Ireland to raise money in Europe, money that pays for the bombs and the tanks and the weapons being used to slaughter children. We have the ability to end the sale of Israeli war bonds across the European Union. We should never have had any involvement in this but we now have the power to pull the plug.

We will advance this legislation next week. It will be tabled for Second Stage. I urge the Government to drop the nonsense of denying that this is happening and to work with us. This legislation is ready to go. It was drafted not by us but by the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers. It is compatible with the Constitution and EU and international law. We need to pass this legislation without delay, we need to give effect to the will of the Irish people and we need to ensure that Ireland is in no way complicit in funding genocide, which is what is happening under our very eyes.

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