845. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will in light of the fact that the role of facilitating the sale of Israeli war bonds will now default back to Ireland will intervene to stop Ireland having any role in facilitating genocide. [59242/26]

It is important to re-emphasise that the Central Bank did not, at any point, sell or oversee the sale of Israeli Bonds, the Bonds were not listed for sale in Ireland previously and are not sold in Ireland currently. Furthermore, the Central Bank did not authorise, endorse or regulate the bonds issued under the Israeli bond programme. It assessed and approved previous bond prospectuses as meeting the disclosure requirements of the Prospectus Regulation.

The Central Bank, as the financial regulator, is independent in its functions from the Government as is necessary in any well-functioning democracy. This is also a mandatory condition for membership of the European Union. Therefore, the assessment of a prospectus and a determination of whether it meets the requirements of the EU Prospectus Regulation is a supervisory matter for the Central Bank and one in which I have no role.

However I do believe that further action is necessary with respect to the EU's relationship with the State of Israel, which is why we are working with others to achieve co-ordinated action at EU level. Ireland will continue to call for concrete EU action in response to egregious Israeli breaches of human rights and democratic principles.

This includes a call for a proposal to prohibit EU trade with Israeli settlements, to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, or at a minimum to suspend the trade elements of the Agreement as previously proposed by the President of the European Commission.