Protest at Leinster House ahead of Central Bank vote
A protest is being held outside Leinster House ahead of a vote on a motion seeking to ban the Central Bank from facilitating the sale of so-called Israeli war bonds.
The day-long 'Stop Funding Genocide' action was organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC).
Government TDs will tonight vote on whether to ban the facilitation of the war bonds in Ireland, a cross-party motion brought forward by the Social Democrats.
Last month, a similar motion brought forward by Sinn Féin was defeated by 87 votes to 75.
Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney spoke at the protest, saying the Government had a second opportunity to stop the sale of Israeli bonds in Europe.
She said: "Our Central Bank is currently facilitating Israeli bonds in Europe by approving the prospectus of Israeli bonds.
"Every country has the right to raise bonds and sell them but the bonds that are being raised and sold by Israel right now are being used to fund this genocide.
"The weapons, the bombs and the bullets that have killed 55,000 people, that have injured 126,000 people, they are partly funded by the sale of those bonds.
"Our Central Bank says there's nothing they can do, but we can in the Dáil. So today we offer the Government another opportunity to stop the Central Bank from approving that prospectus, to play our part in stopping the sale of Israeli bonds in Europe."
During the protest a group of women dressed in black held a 15-minute "keening" outside the gates of Leinster House - the action of wailing in grief.
Senator Frances Black, who was among the attendees, said the "keeners" represented what the crowd was feeling.
She said: "Our hearts are broken at this time by what we're seeing in Gaza and the West Bank, it's absolutely outrageous and we've seen that now for over a year and a half.
"We've been confronted with scenes in Gaza that are so horrific they will haunt us and certainly haunt me as long we can remember."
The Government has posed a counter-motion that outlines the actions the Coalition has taken so far against Israel.
Earlier, the governor of the Central Bank told politicians that it cannot refuse to facilitate the sale of Israel war bonds as doing so would break EU capital markets rules.
Gabriel Makhlouf outlined the position to the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Expenditure this afternoon.
He said the Central Bank was "absolutely appalled" by what is happening in Gaza.
However, the bank is "required to perform" certain actions under EU rules, he said, adding "we are established by law, we are empowered by law, and we must always act within and in line with the law".
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