TDs are due to vote today on Sinn Féin’s Restrictive Financial Measures (State of Israel) Bill 2025, following a stormy Dáil debate last night that was interrupted by heckling from the public gallery and frequent clashes between Government and Opposition benches.
The proposed legislation seeks to prohibit the Central Bank of Ireland from authorising or facilitating the sale of Israeli government bonds, which Sinn Féin claims are being used to fund Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Tensions flared during the debate, with around 40 protestors ejected from the public gallery after shouting over TDs and accusing the Government of complicity in war crimes. The sitting was briefly suspended.
Opposition TDs repeatedly interrupted Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe as he outlined the Government’s reasons for opposing the bill. Several exchanges were marked by shouting, with Sinn Féin TDs calling the Minister’s speech “a disgrace” and “pathetic nonsense”.
Donohoe insisted that the Central Bank does not sell or trade Israeli bonds and that its only role is to assess bond prospectuses under EU regulation.
“The Central Bank of Ireland does not sell these bonds,” he said.
“…Its sole role is to assess the bond prospectus in front of it to ensure that it includes all the requirements it is meant to under the EU regulation.”
He argued that the bill was “very clearly” inconsistent with EU law, specifically Article 215 of the Treaty of the European Union, which he said limits the ability of individual member states to impose unilateral sanctions.
“Let me repeat that even if this Bill were to be enacted, Israeli bonds would still be available to retail investors across the EU and further afield,” said Donohoe, to which Deputy Pearse Doherty replied: “It would not be happening in our name. At least we would be standing up against the genocide.”
“The Government does not support enacting legislation that is ineffective,” responded Donohoe, to which Doherty shot back: “That is a disgraceful speech. That speech is going to go down in history. It is a disgraceful speech from the Minister.”
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the Government of endorsing Israel’s actions by refusing to block the bonds.
“Allowing the Irish Central Bank to continue to deal in and facilitate the sale of Israeli war bonds is an endorsement of genocide,” she said.
“It makes Ireland complicit.”
Donohoe said that the Government had been active in pursuing diplomatic efforts at EU level and supporting the International Criminal Court and UN agencies.
“What we have done as a Government is made very clear our condemnation of what is happening to the people of Gaza,” he said.
“We have been at the forefront of the diplomatic activity within the EU to do this. We have also been to the fore in going to the International Criminal Court, our support for UNRWA, and by making the case for change with regard to the EU-Israel trade agreement.”
The debate was repeatedly interrupted by Opposition jeers, with references made to “blood money” and child casualties in Gaza. At one point, Minister Donohoe was told to “cop yourself on” and told “Your masters at EU level will be happy. Paschal will get many pats when he goes back to Brussels.”
Despite the heated exchanges, the Minister insisted on the Government’s position that national-level sanctions were legally unworkable and diplomatically counterproductive.
A vote on the bill is expected to take place in the Dáil later today.