Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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108. To ask the Minister for Finance the details of his engagements with his EU counterparts and the Council of the EU in relation to exercising his powers under Section 42 of the Criminal Activity (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005 to impose restrictive measures on groups associated with financing terrorist activity in Israel; specifically in relation to financing terrorist activity and not in relation to restrictive measures against a smaller number of individual extremist settlers, given that the definition of terrorist activity under the Act includes activity that is committed with the intention of seriously destabilising or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a state or an international organisation; considering reports (details supplied) that many enterprises in the West Bank and many enterprises inside the 1967 borders of Israel are financially connected with settler activity committed with the aforementioned intent; and should therefore be subject to sanctions and restrictive measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22353/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Restrictive measures, or sanctions as they are generally referred to, are a policy intervention utilised by the EU in regard to Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Ireland implements EU and UN sanctions via EU legislation.

As the Deputy is aware, Ireland is represented at the Foreign Affairs Council by An Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. Any decisions regarding the introduction of EU sanctions are subsequently taken by Council of the European Union.

I note the concerns from my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, about the situation in the West Bank, where Israel is conducting its single longest military operation in 20 years. At least 40,000 people have been displaced as a result. The latest report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Israeli settlements sets out a stark and evidence-based assessment of the exponential increase in settlement expansion, settler violence and impunity. These actions risk undermining the viability of the two-State solution.

It is vital that the perpetrators of settler violence are held to account. I welcome that, at the meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council in February, the European Union strongly condemned the ongoing extremist settler violence in the West Bank and indicated that it will take forward work on further restrictive measures against extremist settlers and against entities and organisations that support them, in addition to those already listed under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime.

The focus of the Government is on supporting international efforts to bring about the immediate cessation of hostilities, a return to the ceasefire and hostage release agreement, and its full implementation including the release of hostages and the resumption of humanitarian access at scale.