The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has called on the Government to direct the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) not to renew or approve the 2026 Israel Bonds prospectus, and not to facilitate the transfer of the prospectus to any other EU member state.
Congress said that with a decision due today, the Government has a direct and immediate opportunity to ensure the Irish State is not facilitating the financing of a genocide it has itself recognised as such. Alongside Trade Union Friends of Palestine, it is calling on the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance to:
- Direct the Central Bank not to approve or renew the 2026 Israel Bonds prospectus;
- Ensure no transfer of the prospectus to any other EU state takes place, or that any such transfer already under way is reversed; and
- Set out publicly how the Central Bank's approach complies with the State's obligations under the Genocide Convention and the July 2024 ICJ ruling.
In July 2025, at the ICTU Biennial Delegate Conference passed a motion pledging ICTU’s support in leading “the solidarity campaign, including co-ordinated workplace and community action, across Ireland, aimed at ending Irish, UK and EU complicity in the genocide in Gaza”.
Commenting ICTU General Secretary Owen Reidy said:
"The Government has rightly recognised that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. It cannot in the same breath allow the Central Bank to wave through the very bonds that help fund it”.
“The Genocide Convention requires every organ of the state, including the Central Bank, to act to prevent genocide the moment the risk becomes known. Ireland has already recognised that genocide has taken place in Palestine, and approving this prospectus would make the Irish State complicit in it."
The Government has led on Palestine before by recognising the Palestinian state, joining the ICJ case, passing the Occupied Territories Bill, albeit without services included. Waving through Israel Bonds today would undo that credibility overnight”.
