Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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14. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the measures she is taking to support International Criminal Court judges subject to sanctions by the USA (details supplied); and for details of her engagements with the US government and its embassy in Ireland on the matter. [67886/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is the cornerstone of the international system of criminal justice. The Government is very concerned about the rising levels of threats against the ICC, its staff and those who cooperate with it. In particular the imposition of US sanctions against ICC elected officials, including the Prosecutor, two deputy prosecutors and seven judges, has been alarming. Such measures corrode the international legal order on which all states – but particularly small states like Ireland – depend. We call for all coercive measures against the ICC, and its officials, to be withdrawn and for the Court to be allowed to continue its independent and impartial work.

Ireland has joined several public statements regretting the impact of US sanctions against the ICC and reaffirming our strong support for the Court. This includes, most recently, a cross-regional statement by 59 States at the UN on 11 November. On 2 July 2025, Ireland hosted the President of the ICC, Judge Tomoko Akane, who visited Dublin as part of a series of official visits to ICC States Parties to elicit political support for the Court in the context of the US sanctions. The Tánaiste reaffirmed Ireland’s steadfast support for the Court during his meeting with President Akane.

Ireland has been actively engaged with EU Member States on how to best respond to the imposition of these sanctions and the Government believes that a coordinated EU response is the most effective way to protect the Court and its officials. We will continue to engage with the Court and our international partners on how we can best support the ICC and assist it in fulfilling its mandate to end impunity, including at the meeting of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, being held in The Hague from 1 to 6 December.