Finance Department to flag concerns with Israeli investment bill

In their opening statement to the Oireachtas Finance Committee today, officials from the Department of Finance will flag concerns about Sinn Féin proposals to ban the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) from investing in any company that operates in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

The Government would need to compile its own list of companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements in order to prevent Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund from investing in them.

In their opening statement to the Oireachtas Finance Committee today, officials from the Department of Finance will flag concerns about Sinn Féin proposals to ban the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) from investing in any company that operates in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The Sinn Féin bill, the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill, would force ISIF to divest all their holdings in companies that operate within Israeli settlements, based on a list compiled by the UN.

The officials will tell TDs that this existing UN list of companies operating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank is “not comprehensive”. They will add that companies who are operating in the West Bank, but not on the list, could continue to receive ISIF investment.

“The Bill would need to be amended so that the reference list to which investment exclusions are made is a list developed by the Irish State. The cross reference to the UN list which is included in the Private Members Bill would be insufficient,” Department of Finance assistant secretary Oliver Gilvarry will say.

“The State would have to develop its own investment/divestment list based on its own analysis.” 

He will add that a mechanism would have to be put in place to ensure there is ongoing engagement with firms who are excluded from investment, particularly allowing impacted companies to request de-listing where appropriate.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), in its opening statement, will say that ISIF currently has investments in 11 companies operating in Israeli settlements. These investments are valued at approximately €4.2m.

ISIF director Nick Ashmore will say that he is unaware of any other sovereign wealth fund that has sought to divest their holdings from companies operating in Israeli settlements.

“On the basis of our research, we are not aware of any sovereign wealth fund or pension fund which has divested from its exposure, to companies operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, or excluded investments in such companies, on foot of a specific legislative requirement,” he will say.

In its opening statement, the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign will call on the bill to be implemented, saying that taxpayer’s money should not be invested in “any entity that aids the construction or maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine”.

“Ending this blatant complicity should be a no-brainer — indeed, it is the very least that common sense and human decency, not to mention international law, demands.”