Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 90 and 91 together.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted at Paris on 9 December 1948. It has been ratified or acceded to by 153 states. Article IX of the Convention provides that disputes between parties about its interpretation, application or fulfilment may be submitted to the International Court of Justice.

The general practice in the settlement of disputes under multilateral conventions is that where one party to a convention considers that another party is failing to meet its obligations to it under that convention, it is in the first instance for the injured party to initiate the dispute resolution process against the other party under the relevant provisions of the convention.

Ireland has never submitted a dispute to the ICJ under the Genocide Convention.

However, Ireland has participated as a third party in ICJ proceedings initiated by an affected party under the Genocide Convention on one occasion. In February 2022, Ukraine initiated a case against Russia, contending that Russia relied on false claims of genocide to justify its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, and in so doing violated its obligations to it under the Genocide Convention. Ireland submitted a Declaration of Intervention to the Court as a Contracting Party to the Genocide Convention, as did a number of other states. The intervening states this year filed written observations and participated in oral proceedings on the question of the Court’s jurisdiction. Ireland's participation sought to assist the Court in the interpretation of an important jurisdictional question in Ukraine's dispute with the Russian Federation.

The events of recent weeks in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel are, without doubt, shocking and horrifying. They have raised serious questions of compliance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law (IHL). The Government has made clear that we fully support impartial and independent investigations into any and all breaches of IHL and other relevant branches of international law by the appropriate authorities.