Results 2,161-2,180 of 11,290 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: I will pick up from that point. One of the first statements on the NTMA’s website is the boast that the ISIF is committed to being a long-term, sustainable and responsible investor. Do the witnesses consider it to be responsible investment to put Irish taxpayers’ money into companies that are profiting from what has clearly been defined as illegal activity?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: I might move to the Department’s representatives quickly. There is a UN database that cites companies that are involved, invested or complicit in illegal activities of the Israeli state in the occupied territories. Is that disputed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: Does Mr. Gilvarry accept the list?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: Does Mr. Gilvarry accept that the companies listed in the UN database are involved in activities that have been defined-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: What does Mr. Gilvarry see as being the purpose of the database?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: Following investigations, the UN compiled this database. It has since been amended and some companies have been taken off it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: What is the purpose of the UN’s action in compiling this database in the first place? Is it so that member states of the UN will take appropriate action?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: I take it, therefore, that Mr. Gilvarry would consider it inappropriate for an Irish Government Department or agency to use this list to decide what companies it should deal with or invest in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: To clarify, firms can be taken off the UN list. That has already happened.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: It is important that the record reflect that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: Would Mr. Gilvarry be surprised to learn that an Irish Government agency not only uses the list, but cites it to provide cover for political charges? At one point, IDA Ireland was planning to employ a business development consultant in Israel, which rightly caused concern. In response, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment tried to ease concerns by stating that IDA Ireland would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: Mr. Gilvarry keeps calling it the list. It is a database.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: The UN gave those companies an opportunity to contest. About a dozen availed of the opportunity.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: Yes, as a result of that. On the balance of probabilities, is it more likely that the companies which did not respond were or were not involved in this activity?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: In the context of those that did not come back, what is most the likely position?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: In November when this point was put to the Minister for Finance, as well as in a number of responses to parliamentary questions, he indicated the Department and ISIF have been working on the most appropriate way to address the issues raised by the Private Members' Bill, including in the context of the forthcoming future Ireland fund and the infrastructure fund. Is the Department still...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: Last month, the Attorney General made a presentation to the ICJ in the context of its examination of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine. He stated: In the present case, States are obliged not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s breach of its obligation to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. The General...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: We are making these investments. Mr. Gilvarry will accept that there are companies which are profiting from the illegal settlements and that Ireland is investing in those companies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: I sincerely thank our guests for attending and again commend Deputy Brady on bringing forward a meaningful action in response to what has been a decades-long policy on the part of successive Israeli Governments to flagrantly breach international law without consequence. That is why legislation such as this is so important. Words matter, of course, and the words of the Irish Government in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Matt Carthy: I am sure the Deputy was not, but it is ironic that other than him - and he is very welcome - not a single other Government Member could attend to hear the witnesses. On the Bill and the divestment from companies that operate within the illegal settlements, how does that fit into the wider campaign, as our guests see it, of boycott, divestment and sanctions that has been advocated? How...