Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

I am glad ISIF has divested of its investment. I received a written reply to a query, which stated that in 2023, the investment was worth €2.62 million. That was the year Hamas crossed the border and Israel started on this genocide.

In 2024, as the genocide continued and worsened, this State invested more money in the bonds. It was not an awful lot more, but there was an increase to €3.62 million. The Minister seemed to be unaware of that when a Sinn Féin motion was debated in the House on how the prospectus works. I specifically mentioned the reply I received that included the figure of €2.62 million. I might have taken up the Minister wrong but I understood from him shaking his head that he did not know or was saying the opposite and that we did not invest. At the time we were discussing the Central Bank, he led me to believe, or did not know, that we were directly investing in war bonds. Not alone did we do that but we increased it in 2024. I would like him to be very specific about his involvement in that decision.

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