John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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350. To ask the Minister for Finance if he has considered the possibility of introducing a national restrictive measure, i.e., a provision in legislation, in the very near future that would prohibit the Central Bank of Ireland from renewing the Israeli bond prospectus this September; if this is not possible, to outline the obstacles to such a measure that need to be overcome; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38933/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may or may not be aware, the EU Prospectus Regulation specifies that a prospectus must be drawn up, approved and published when securities are to be offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market in the EU. It is a document that contains key information that potential investors would need to make an informed decision as to whether or not to invest. The decision to approve a prospectus is one based on EU law and if it is assessed that the conditions for approval, set out in the Prospectus Regulation are met by the applicant, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), as the national competent authority, is legally bound to approve it.

Recently, Sinn Féin introduced a Private Members Bill, and the Social Democrats put forward a Motion on the Israeli Bonds approval issue calling for the application of national restrictive measures which the Government opposed and countered respectively. Thus, the Government has examined the issue of applying national restrictive measures in order to prevent the Central Bank from carrying out its regulatory function under the Prospectus Regulation and has been advised by the Attorney General’s Office that these measures would likely be in conflict with the EU Treaties and our obligations as an EU Member State.

Ireland must prioritise coordinated action through the mechanisms of the EU or the UN to ensure that any measures taken are robust and internationally respected. These multilateral efforts are where Ireland can truly exert influence and achieve meaningful change. Ireland has intervened in South Africa’s International Court of Justice case against Israel under the Genocide Convention, The Government recognised Palestine as a sovereign and independent state, and we supported the recent Dutch proposal to review the EU’s trade and political relationship with Israel (the EU-Israel Association Agreement). These are concrete measures the Government have undertaken with the express purpose of building an international coalition to stop the horrors in Gaza perpetrated by Israel.