Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has been working with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) on the most appropriate way to address the issues raised by the Private Members Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023. This process is still ongoing.

ISIF constructs its portfolio within the legislative framework set for it by the Oireachtas and must align with any changes that are legislated for. When this Bill was initiated in the Dáil, the Minister of State outlined the State’s position with regard to the policy of differentiation that the State adopts vis a vis Israel and the territories occupied by Israel since 1967. Ireland’s general position with regard to the Occupied Territories is very clear. In the debate on the Bill in May of this year the Minister also raised a number of specific concerns about the content and approach proposed in the Bill including the updating of the proposed list.

In that context, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights issued an update to the UN database of businesses operating in illegal Israeli settlements on 30 June this year. In publishing the update the UN said that it did not purport to provide a complete list of business enterprises engaged in certain activities in relation to Israeli settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The update, which was also resource constrained and limited only to a review of those companies already listed, resulted in fifteen companies being removed from the Database. This included General Mills, one of the 9 companies that ISIF had investments in. Thus the UN list, while useful, cannot be considered to be fully comprehensive.

ISIF has, to date, completed several divestment programmes and excluded investments from the Fund. Exclusion is used on a limited basis, reflecting exclusions mandated by legislation (such as the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018 or the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008) and, inter alia, exclusions are also made on sustainable investment grounds using ISIF’s Exclusion Decision Making Framework including Tobacco and Nuclear Weapons.

On the basis of the foregoing I am continuing to adopt a considered approach to a solution including whether or not to legislate and using the time that the nine-month timed amendment allows to do this. Ultimately, we all want an appropriate solution to address the issue.