Investors in Israeli bonds approved by the Irish Central Bank risk being legally complicit in genocide in Gaza, a Social Democrats TD has claimed in a letter to its governor.
Lawyers for Gary Gannon wrote to Gabriel Makhlouf on Friday warning that investors in the bonds are exposed to a host of risks which were not disclosed to them in prospectuses for bonds approved by the Central Bank, which are “clearly known” to it.
The Dublin Central TD says he is willing to go to the High Court to challenge the Central Bank on the issue if necessary, arguing that the Irish regulator “has approved bonds for a state accused of genocide - without warning investors of the legal, criminal, financial, reputational, or moral risks”.
According to the letter, the Cental Bank has powers under EU financial market regulations that allow it to prohibit or restrict financial instruments, such as bonds, if there are “significant investor protection concerns”.
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It argues that investors in the bonds face potential criminal or civil sanctions for facilitating genocide, as well as the inability to trade bonds and the risk that Israel may face sanctions arising from its bombardment of Gaza.
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It states: “The continued issuing and trading of [Israeli] bonds gives rise to significant investor protection concerns, in light of the complicity of Israel in genocide in Gaza, and the use of the proceeds of the Israeli bonds to facilitate same.”
Mr Gannon wants the Central Bank to prohibit the marketing, distribution or sale of the Israeli bonds. If it does not, the Dublin Central TD’s lawyers wrote that he “reserves the right to institute such legal proceedings as are necessary”.
The TD said: “The EU law that governs the Central Bank’s role here says investor protection includes disclosure of material risks ... If retail or institutional investors can be held liable for funding or even complicity in genocide, it is the duty of regulators to ensure that does not happen.”
The letter also emphasises that Taoiseach Micheál Martin has described the war in Gaza as a genocide.
“It is clearly recognised at the highest levels of the Irish State that the actions of Israel in Gaza amount to genocide,” it states.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Government published draft legislation to prohibit the sale in Ireland of Israeli goods produced in the occupied Palestinian territories.
It makes no reference to services being subject to a similar ban, which led to criticism from the Opposition.
The draft of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 was published on Wednesday by Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris.
The draft will now be sent for pre-legislative scrutiny by the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee.
In an accompanying letter to the committee, Mr Harris said the scheme delivers on a Government commitment but notes the limitations under EU law.
“The scheme has been prepared having regard to the exclusive competence of the European Union in the field of external trade and the very limited basis on which an EU member state may adopt measures in that field,” it states.
It is expected that Mr Harris will also be invited to appear before the foreign affairs committee.
Senator Frances Black, who drafted the original Bill in 2018, said on Wednesday she was confident the committee will have completed its work before the summer recess, allowing for the full Bill to be published in early autumn.
Separately, Ms Black has been mentioned as a possible candidate in the presidential election.
She said she was now 99 per cent sure she would not be a candidate, and said no party, nor person, had approached her with a view to asking her to run.
