Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

It is hard to believe that we are having this debate. There is absolute acceptance that Israel is an apartheid state that is engaged in genocidal action in Gaza. Another 25 people were killed at a so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid station. I do not know what defence there can be for what Israel is doing on a day-by-day basis. At least 55,000 people have been slaughtered and there is no end in sight.

While the Central Bank may not be selling them, it is facilitating these Israeli war bonds. We can have an argument about the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, the legal service available to us, which seems to have the best of legal minds. It is intent on ensuring that the Minister does not do anything that could be unconstitutional or unlawful, yet it was sufficiently happy to draft the Bill and work alongside Deputy Doherty. We all know the Central Bank needs to be provided with powers to have national restrictive measures, which are necessary to ensure that we are not complicit, as is required by the genocide convention. As some of my colleagues have said, the Minister did not say the Bill is unworkable or not legal, and this is not a State that is too worried about infringement actions or legal challenges being taken. In general, the State has faced up to legal challenges, sometimes when it should not have, when ordinary people tried to ensure that their rights were fulfilled.

The Palestinian people may not exist in the next while. At this point, we are facilitating the Israeli Government in selling these bonds. The Minister has not come out and said this is unworkable and outlined how the Government is going to deliver. That is the answer we need from the Minister. We have to do absolutely everything.

We all know the issues we have with the occupied territories Bill without services. We all know there has been failure across Europe on delivering on the EU-Israel association agreement. I do not know how the humanitarian conditions that were put in place legally are not being infringed. We can do very few things at this point to ensure we show absolute solidarity to those who are under genocide and to make sure Israel is pointed out as the pariah state that it is. This is a small, but necessary, act and the Irish people demand that it happen.

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