Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)

Ireland is being used to finance genocide via the Central Bank. We are the only EU member granting permission to the State of Israel for the sale of genocide bonds, bonds that Israel itself openly advertises as funding its so-called war effort. Let us be clear. What is happening in Palestine is not a war; it is a campaign of starvation, destruction and ethnic cleansing. Palestinian men, women and children are being exterminated as the world watches on. It is sickening and it exposes the colonialist underbelly of so-called Western values.

In recent weeks, acute child malnutrition increased by more than 80%, the price of wheat flour increased by 3,000%, the World Food Programme ran out of food and the World Central Kitchen closed its operations. This is not a famine. This is weaponised starvation, with hospitals bombed, aid blocked and civilians slaughtered while Israel raises billions through genocide bonds, using Irish approval to fund its reign of death and destruction.

This Sinn Féin Bill gives the Minister the explicit power to stop the Irish Central Bank from facilitating the sale of Israeli war bonds across the EU. This is not just about legality; it is about morality. We cannot be the country that decries injustice with one hand and posts the cheque with the other. Ireland has a proud anticolonial past because we know what it means to be starved, to be occupied and to be silenced. We will not stand by when it happens again to any other nation. The legislation is here to stop this. It is watertight and it reflects the will of the Irish people. For the Government and the Minister, it is now time to choose. They can continue as the financial gateway for genocide or they can shut it down now and reclaim what little moral standing is possible.

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