Mattie McGrath backs bill to stop ISIF investing in settlements
Mattie McGrath spoke about a bill to prevent the National Treasury Management Agency and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) from investing in businesses operating in Israeli settlements and on Palestinian land. He argued the bill would require the NTMA to ensure no assets are invested in companies on the UN database of firms operating in illegal settlements and to divest any such holdings.
Bill overview
McGrath outlined that the bill would prohibit the NTMA and ISIF from investing in undertakings that appear on the UN database of companies operating in Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. He said the measure would require the NTMA to avoid such investments and to divest assets if it becomes aware that the fund has invested in those undertakings.
Position on violence and tactics
McGrath condemned the murder of children and civilian casualties and said he abhors such attacks, while also noting the ongoing launching of tunnels and rockets "at the provocation of the Israelis." He insisted that "two wrongs don't make a right," said he has listened to both sides and recalled earlier admiration for the PLO but expressed second thoughts about the current situation.
Neutrality and Ireland's role
McGrath argued Ireland's traditional neutrality and international credibility have been diminished by recent actions, citing involvement in support to Ukraine and selective responses to conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. He said Ireland once played a role in international peace efforts and called for consistent neutrality rather than one-sided policy.
Implications and call for reflection
McGrath said he wants to stop any funds being invested in such companies but warned against political double-speak and urged "a lot of soul-searching" on Ireland's stance. He referenced the Northern Ireland peace process and figures who helped bring it about as examples of what Ireland could offer if it rethinks its approach.
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I am delighted to have the time to speak this evening. The bill is to prevent the National Treasury Management Agency from investing in businesses that operate in Israeli settlements and on Palestinian land. It requires the NTMA to ensure that no assets from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund are invested in such businesses. If it becomes aware that the ISIF have invested in such businesses, it must divest those assets from the investment. The purpose of the bill is to prevent Ireland from being involved in illegal Israeli activities and to end the oppression of the Palestinian people. The objective of the bill is to impose certain prohibitions and restrictions on the investment by the National Treasury Management Agency of the assets of the Ireland Strategic Fund in undertakings that appear on the UN database of companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. Number two, the bill requires the NTMA to ensure that such assets are not invested in such an undertaking. It becomes aware that an undertaking in which such assets have been invested or has been on the UN database to divest the assets of that fund from such investments. The bill provides related matters as well. Indeed, I think it is what is going on in Israel and Palestine for a long, long time. As a young man, I have great admiration for what the PLO are doing. I have second thoughts, quite frankly, on the issue there now. I have listened to both sides of the argument. We must listen to both sides of the argument. While I condemn and abhor the murder of children and human beings and the thought of them by the Israeli attacks. There is also a constant launch of tunnels underneath and rockets overhead at the provocation of the Israelis. Two wrongs don't make a right. Two wrongs don't make a right. We saw for how long the troubles have been from 1969 until the peace process. Indeed, we should look at that maybe and try as a neutral country here. When we were a neutral country and we had credibility from the foundation of the state right up to quite recently. But we are no longer neutral now because we decided to be wholly involved in one side in the war in Ukraine. Wholly. And most political parties here, I think, are backing what is going on there. I am not a fan of Russia, but if we are neutral, we are neutral. And we did play a role in the League of Nations, the League of Nations and the League of Nations and the United Nations and the Peace Capers. And we have done so. I want to stop any funds being invested in our National Treasury Ministry or whatever, but I don't want the double-speak that goes on here. All the time that we are neutral, and our neutrality is outdated, it tells us when he was Taoiseach. And we must look at it again and we are sending munitions, not munitions, but it tells us over coats and helmets and mines sweepers to Ukraine. We are not. And it is as if we had a navy here that we could do something. So, we had respect as a neutral country, but that has been sadly diminished by our involvement. And we have turned a blind eye to the different wars in Iraq and the Middle East and different parts of Syria and everything else. And we have not a coke out of this. And we are selective now on who we condemn, and where that condemnation should fall, and what we should say or do about it. So, we are very mixed up here. The kind of liquor is all sorts of neutrality that we have here. As I said, I uphold violence, and I have had a late Father Ali Greed, and indeed Martin Mancer, and a former teacher, and many others, who brought about the peace process in the North. We have a lot to offer, but not while we keep undermining our neutrality by being one-sided in the Ukraine war, and by not condemning the United States for any direction, or NATO for any direction, either, for that matter. When we saw what happened in Syria, and Afghanistan, and other in a mess they made there. So, we need a lot of soul-searching and thinking, I think, here, as we go forward. And this bill maybe is not as simple as it looks. Go ra maith goos.
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