Paul Murphy demands end to Irish complicity over Israeli war bonds

Yesterday, Minister, 94 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, and 45 of them were killed while waiting for aid from the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Today, just so far, 87 people have been killed, and every day has a similar horrific number of casualties. In just one month, 600 Palestinians have been killed, more than 4,200 have been wounded by Israeli fire near aid distribution sites. A new low in this genocide, the use of aid as a weapon to ethnically cleanse large parts of the Gaza Strip and to assemble people in order to be shot down in what's been described as a death trap. People saw the horrendous pictures from Monday of a cafe and the people inside blown to bits. It's been reported now that a £500 bomb was used by the Israeli military to do this. Minister, you have previously and repeatedly defended the authorisation of the sale of Israeli bonds by the Irish Central Bank. We know now from the Central Bank that €418 million was raised by Israel in these war bonds approved by the Central Bank between October 2023 and April 2025. That is a quarter of all funds generated globally by these bonds. How many bullets did that pay for? How many missiles did it pay for? How many bombs did it pay for? Do you accept now that it is time to stop this complicity of the Irish state in genocide? Let me quote from a central bank worker. When over 50,000 people, 17,000 of them children are dead, murdered in their homes, schools, hospitals, or killed trying to escape the slaughter, Rafa, Jabalia, Kan Yunus, etc. I must admit I find it difficult to discern the difference between the bank's official line, we are guided by the law and if the requirements under the prospectus regulations are being met, we must comply with the law, and the defence claimed by Soldier F, the perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda, Cambodia, Sudan, Myanmar, the defendants at Nuremberg. We were just following orders, the superior order defence. The same applies to a government which has twice now voted not to end this complicity. It is incredibly unfair to put the workers in this situation because of your failure to act. We know that there is an email from the Israeli Ministry of Justice previously talking about a confidential phone call with you and you saying that the government would block the occupied territories bill. Now here we are again, you blocking action to stop funding the genocide. What will it take to shift the government on this? What will it take for you to act? So again, in recognition of the horror that has been inflicted on the people of Gaza, the loss of life, the new law that we are seeing being perpetrated when aid has been used in a way that appears to be assembling people for further death, for further injury, let me outline what the government has done and what we continue to do to respond back in a diplomatic and practical way to this. The work that the Irish government has done in responding back to the clear sentiment of the people of Ireland in our intervention in the International Court of Justice in South Africa, what has happened in recognising Palestine as a sovereign and independent state, our support for a proposal from the Netherlands to review the EU's trade and political relationship with Israel, the fact that we were the first country to call for UNRWA to remain in Gaza, and for the last two years alone we have allocated now €58 million to support their work, and the fact that Ireland has been at the very heart, as demonstrated by the Taoiseach and Tornister in the last number of weeks alone, at making a case for a different diplomatic approach from the European Union to respond back to the loss of life and to the horror that the people of Gaza are confronting. That was recognised only yesterday, or earlier in the week. The Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister of Qatar, visited Ireland to engage with us, a country that is playing a key role in trying to stabilise and bring peace to the Middle East, to engage with the government regarding our diplomatic efforts and the work that we are doing to make a difference. The charge that you have made against me personally, I want to again refute, note that that call did not happen. I cannot help to be struck by the irony that you would rather believe the Ministry for Justice of Israel than me on the matter, given everything else you say about that State. As regards the role of the Central Bank, let me again emphasise what they do not do. They do not sell bonds on behalf of the State of Israel, neither are these bonds listed in our stock exchange, and the legislation that the opposition has proposed, which yes, you are right, I argued against and voted against. We believe it is unworkable, and we believe it would not have been in line with the law of the European Union. Instead, what we need to do, recognising the fact that while we are members of the European Union, there are many other members of the European Union that do hold differing views, is work to build up a diplomatic consensus to make a difference to that issue. And that is not done by us acting on our own, that is done by the patient work of diplomacy, which the teacher can tarnished at the heart of doing, to change the stance of the European Union on this issue, while taking action ourselves, which we have done, which is recognised by the people, by the leaders of Palestine, to make a difference to the horror that we see unfolding. Every time we raise this, we get the same response from the government, which is basically to say, why are you not thanking us for all that we are doing? Why are you thanking us for not being as bad as the Western States that literally arm, fund, enable this genocide? But I am sorry, we have a higher standard, and I think the public has a higher standard, of no complicity in the genocide. That is not just a moral standard, that is a legal standard. Under international law, all states have an obligation not to assist in any illegal situation such as occupation, illegal settlements, apartheid or genocide. The Irish government itself recognises that genocide is happening. Do you not see that providing access to EU markets to fundraise to support genocide is a violation of our obligation not to assist? It is true that the central bank does not endorse this, but they authorise it. Without the authorisation of a central bank, these bonds could not be sold. That is over €400 million. Do you not accept, Minister, that you should act, that declaring it a genocide has consequences, you should do everything in your power? The central bank has said they will adhere to any financial sanctions or restrictive measures that are imposed under law. Therefore, you should instruct the central bank, or we should change the law. We need to stop the sale of genocide bonds. Minister, at what point in my contribution did I look for thanks or recognition? At what point in the statement that I, or any other member of the government, have made in relation to what is unfolding in the Middle East, have we looked for recognition from you, indeed from anybody else? What we are doing, what we are doing, what we are doing, is using the diplomatic resources that are available to us, using our political leadership to make a difference in practical and political terms to the people of Gaza and to the horror that is unfolding to them that has gone on for too long. In calling for a ceasefire, in making the case for a review of the trading relationship with Israel within the European Union, in the work that the Taoiseach did in the European Council last week, in the work that the Tornishta has done in all of the Foreign Affairs Council that he has attended, that is what we are doing by action. What I am not going to do, you made reference to the need for higher standards. Well, there are standards that matter here. There are standards that matter in terms of only giving commitments to things that we know we can legally do that can have a practical effect. That is what this Government is doing. Our actions are recognised by those who lead the people of Palestine, by their allies, but regardless of that, what we will do is continue with the patient political work that is needed to make a difference to a ceasefire and to support the people of Gaza at their hour of crisis need.