Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Matt Carthy TD, has said that each government minister must provide details of all engagements that they, or ministers in their department, have had with Israeli counterparts or officials over the past decade.

The Ditch website today revealed a ‘confidential’ call in advance of the introduction of the Occupied Territories Bill between then Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, and his Israeli counterpart, which was not recorded in the Minister’s official diary, in which allegedly assurances were given that Fine Gael would block the passage of the bill.

Teachta Carthy said:

“Fine Gael opposed the passage of the Occupied Territories Bill through the Oireachtas. Despite this, the legislation was adopted by both the Dáil and Seanad. Since then, Fine Gael governments have blocked the enactment of this legislation with the support, over the past four years, of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party who had supported the bill when in opposition.

“Fine Gael had contended that their opposition to the Occupied Territories Bill was based on concerns to domestic versus European competencies.

“However, reporting from the Ditch suggests that following their ‘confidential’ and unrecorded call with Minister Donohoe, Israeli officials were in little doubt that the Bill would be ‘blocked’ by the Fine Gael government.

“The emphasis that Israeli officials placed on this call being ‘confidential’ chimes with Paschal Donohoe’s own failure to record it within his own ministerial diary and begs the simple question of why?

“In the context of a government that has to date failed to introduce any meaningful sanction against an Israeli regime actively engaged in genocide – Paschal Donohoe must set out clearly the detail of his engagements with Israeli counterparts. Indeed all government departments must immediately set out the details of any contact ministers have had with Israeli ministers or government officials over the past decade.

“Above all the government must now take action against an Israeli state that has been in flagrant breach of international law for decades and is currently conducting a genocide against the Palestinian people.”