Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)

The Israeli war bond Bill is underpinned by the ICJ advisory opinion delivered in July 2024. That opinion stated not only that we should act but that we have a legal obligation to act to do absolutely everything that we can. It demands that every state look at every possible lever to exert pressure on Israel. Israel, like apartheid South Africa before it, should be made a pariah state, isolated and cut off from normal social, political and economic relations because it is not compliant with international law.

The Bill is important. In fact, it is essential. It will have a concrete effect. It will reduce the moneys available to fund the genocide in Gaza and will extract the Irish Central Bank from the fund-raising effort. No other central bank provides the permission Israel needs to sell its genocide bonds anywhere in the EU, only the Irish Central Bank. That is what this Bill sets out to achieve and that is a fact. It has to change.

On that measure set out by the ICJ's advisory opinion that every country should do everything it can to move every lever it can, why is it the case that the Opposition comes in, time and again, to this Dáil and the Seanad and raises proposals only to hear from Government, "No, you have it wrong. You do not understand. It is more complicated than that."? It is a case of "No, no, no", consistently. We are expected to be grateful now to see an occupied territories Bill seven years after it was initially introduced and half the Bill that it was. We are supposed to be grateful for that. It is a shameful disgrace. It is the same in relation to the illegal Israeli divestment Bill and the same tonight. The Minister's response has been absolutely disgraceful and everybody can see it.

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