Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)

For the record, the Social Democrats has published detailed proposals about how to increase financing for housing, make it more affordable and build more homes.

The Taoiseach owes the people an explanation. Why was their money used to fund Israel's genocide in Gaza? There is no denying or hiding it. Not only was public money used but the Taoiseach actually increased that funding in 2024. Last year, as tens of thousands of innocent people in Gaza were slaughtered, as hundreds of medics were butchered, as hospitals were flattened, as refugee camps were set alight and schools were razed to the ground, the State increased its financing of Israel's brutal genocide.

The figures are clear: at the end of 2023, the Irish Strategic Investment Fund held €2.62 million in Israeli sovereign debt. By the end of 2024, that had increased to €3.62 million. This was not a mistake or some kind of oversight. Someone made a deliberate decision to increase the level of public money spent on Israeli war bonds. The Israeli Government has not hidden what those bonds are for. These bonds are clearly being used to help finance their genocidal campaign. This is utterly outrageous. I am sure many people who are learning about this will feel sickened. They will wonder why it was that their hard-earned taxes were used to buy bombs and bullets that killed and maimed children in Gaza, and they will also wonder why the Government let this happen.

Last night, the finance Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, said all of these bonds have now been sold but this only happened in the last number of weeks, right before the annual accounts of the State investment fund had to be published. While the Government says it wants to ban trade with the occupied territories, public money is actually being invested in companies operating there illegally. Nearly €8 million of Irish public money is invested either directly or indirectly in those companies. This is shameful. Just yesterday, the UN warned that the largest displacement since 1967 is happening in the West Bank right now.

The State sold its Israeli war bonds. Can the Taoiseach confirm exactly when those bonds were sold, why public money is being invested in companies operating illegally in the occupied territories, and does he have any plans to stop this?

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