Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)

Given the state of relations between Ireland and Israel at this moment in time are at an all-time low and for very good reason, it is a rather perverse irony that Ireland is regarded as Israel's home country for the purpose of facilitating the sale of its war bonds in the EU.

I note the Minister's assessment of the Bill but the truth remains. We are a cog in this wheel. Israel's bonds - the Minister is correct - are not listed for sale on the Irish Stock Exchange. That is true but is only half the story. Owing to a odd twist of fate, Ireland is at the heart of the sale of these blood-stained bonds in the EU in another perverse outworking of Brexit. Whatever way we look at it or splice and dice it, the Irish Central Bank has a special role in facilitating their sale in the EU.

To be sold in the EU, bonds from non-EU countries must have their bond prospectus a legal document setting out details of the bond, approved by the central bank of a country that is in the EU. Before Brexit, the UK carried out this work for Israel. After they left the EU, Israel chose Ireland to be its "home country" for this purpose, meaning the Irish Central Bank is responsible for approving its bond prospectus. That puts our Central Bank, our financial services regulator, in the uncomfortable and, frankly, unacceptable position, in my view, of facilitating the sale of bonds that are funding Israel's relentless and brutal assault on the Palestinian people.

These bonds have become known, as we know, as war bonds and Israel is making no attempt to hide the fact that these bonds or securities are funding directly the onslaught on Gaza. The CEO of Israel Bonds, the organisation that sells these bonds, Dani Naveh, has spoken in the media about how money generated from the sale of Israeli bonds has been used to fund military operations in Gaza. The unique position of our Central Bank in this chain gives the Irish State significant leverage, it if chooses to use it, in starving the Israeli military of funding and if we do not pull this lever, then our fine words calling for peace and an end to genocide are just words.

Pressure has been mounting on the Government at a number of levels to introduce legislation that would effectively stop Ireland facilitating - I use that word "facilitating" deliberately - the sale of Israeli bonds across the EU, and rightly so. I note the Minister's assessment of the Bill and its contents earlier on.

In recent weeks, there have been protests at the Central Bank of Ireland calling for action and regardless of what side of the House or political spectrum we are on, we all have a moral responsibility to do all we can. I am aware that the Central Bank position is that it can only refuse to approve these bonds where it has the legal basis to do so, such as sanctions, for example, being introduced against Israel at an EU level or where there are national restrictive measures to the same effect but the Government will be aware that this is a contested space and that this is disputed by many. Helen Mahony, co-ordinator of Stop Funding Genocide, the campaign that is being run by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told The Journal recently that she believes the Central Bank is wrong in its interpretation of its obligations. Ms Mahony stated:

The thing about this EU Prospectus Regulation is that it’s designed to set out technical standards that a prospectus has to reach. But implicit in that is that the prospectus is for at least lawful reasons. ... no EU regulation is designed to legitimise genocide or to legitimise criminal intent.

Ms Mahony went on to say:

It makes no sense to say that an EU regulation is forcing somebody to become complicit in genocide. No organisation, neither a business nor a bank nor an educational institution, for that matter, or any institution is not bound by the Genocide Convention and not bound by international humanitarian law.

Of course, Ms Mahony is correct. Nobody in their right mind can argue that an EU regulation could force any institution in the State to be complicit in genocide and the Government must act to make sure the Central Bank is no longer in that kind of position.

Along with the passing of the occupied territories Bill, the measures proposed in this Bill and the motion my party will bring to the Dáil tomorrow will put Ireland's money where its mouth is in defence of the Palestinian people and in defence of humanity, of multilateralism and of justice. The Minister has a strong firm moral compass and I ask him to assess the approaches that Opposition parties are seeking to take through that lens.

Recently, my Labour Party colleague, Senator Nessa Cosgrove, hosted a group of Irish healthcare workers who volunteer in Gaza. The group spoke of how no aspect of healthcare has been left untouched by the Israeli and they outlined what the Irish Government could do to help end the suffering. They told us there is no longer a single fully functioning hospital in Gaza.

All have been damaged and many have been totally destroyed. While the killing of the 14 healthcare and unarmed civil defence workers quite rightly hit the headlines in March of this year, this horrendous event represents just 1% of the healthcare workers killed by Israel since October 2023. Between 1,000 and 1,400 healthcare workers have been killed by Israel. This includes some who were tortured to death. Hundreds of others have been abducted by the Israel Defense Forces. Surgeons have been assaulted and taken away in the middle of operations. Others have been prevented from offering assistance to those in need, from going to work or even from entering Gaza. Civilians have been abducted from hospitals even as they lay on the operating table. Who among us, in this Chamber or elsewhere, will ever forget the despair on the face of Dr. Alaa al-Najjar as she received the dead bodies of nine of her ten children as she did her job as a doctor at the Nasser Medical Complex towards the end of last week? All of this is to say nothing of the more than 50,000 people who have been killed in this conflict and the tens of thousands more who are currently at risk of starving to death as the Israeli regime denies them international aid.

One of the actions that courageous group of health workers called for was precisely what is called for in the approach this Bill is taking. That one measure is to stop the Central Bank of Ireland from creating the ground for or facilitating the sale of Israel's war bonds in the EU. Not to act on this now will make the State complicit. We have consistently called out and condemned Israel. It is now time to put those statements into action. We cannot speak out of both sides of our mouth. Our words have to be backed up by action. The time for talking is long past. It is time to act. Our actions are being watched. We in this country can send out a signal through a range of measures such as the enactment of the occupied territories Bill as it was originally intended. If implemented, those kinds of actions would be seen by the whole world. These are pioneering initiatives Ireland could take to end this genocide and to create a just and lasting peace in Palestine. We can no longer stand by and watch this genocide unfold. We need to act now, do everything we can and use every lever at our disposal to stop it.

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