Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I commend Sinn Féin on bringing it forward and I strongly support it.

This Bill would be a vital first step in stopping the genocide and starvation of the Palestinian people. The Bill is fully compliant with international, European and Irish law, and is supported by the independent Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers. Its legal opinion is supported by the leaked opinion of the Attorney General when he dealt with occupied territories Bill and the divestment Bill. The Bill is further underpinned by the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of July 2024 that Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal. The Israeli bonds were established in 1951 to raise funds for the Israeli treasury, for use across the Israeli economy, and have long been used to support the apartheid system, the Israeli military and illegal settlements on Palestinian lands. These bonds directly fund the genocide that is currently being perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Since October 2023, Israeli bonds have been explicitly marketed as war bonds, with the slogans "Israel is at war" and "Stand with Israel". The Central Bank of Ireland, by facilitating the sale of Israeli bonds, has contributed to the raising of almost $4.5 billion in Europe in the 16-month period from October 2023 to January 2025. Israel has raised roughly $12.5 billion globally through the sale of these bonds since Ireland became the designated home country in 2021.

In January 2024, 16 months ago, the International Court of Justice found that the Palestinian people in Gaza had "plausible rights" to be protected from the imminent risk of genocide. This ruling triggered obligations under the Genocide Convention for countries to take all possible action to prevent genocide. Passing this Bill complies with that ruling. In October 2024, the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel found that Israel's actions in Gaza "constitute the war crimes of wilful killing and mistreatment ... and the crime against humanity of extermination". Our Government's inaction makes us complicit in genocide. It makes this State, this Government and the Irish people complicit in genocide and it is not good enough.

I accept and acknowledge what the Government has done to date, including supporting the South African case, the Taoiseach describing the blockade in Gaza as a "war crime" and various other statements but we must do more. We must take action. Words and statements are not good enough anymore. What is happening in Gaza is the ultimate appalling vista and it is a deliberate destruction of the Palestinian people by bomb, bullet and starvation. Today, 2.3 million Palestinians are facing starving. All reputable international organisations say that half a million of these Palestinians are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Another million are facing emergency levels of hunger. The State of Israel and its defence forces are deliberately starving the Palestinian people. This country, due to our famine history and neutrality, has a unique moral authority and obligation to do whatever we can to stop the genocidal starvation of 2.3 million human beings in Gaza. We must take the actions that are open to us, one of which is the passing of this Bill. We should also stop all flights through Shannon, prosecute airlines for carrying armaments and weapons through Irish airspace - which has now been confirmed by the airlines themselves - and immediately pass the occupied territories Bill. Anything else makes this country complicit in genocide.

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