The Central Bank has defended its facilitation of the sale of so-called Israeli war bonds saying it is required by law to do so.
The bank's governor Gabriel Makhlouf said today that after Brexit, Israel moved its sovereign bonds prospectus from the UK to Ireland to allow the sale of the products in the EU.
He told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that the law requires the bank to approve a prospectus that offers securities to the public as long as it meets the standards of completeness and consistency.
But he added: "the law is also clear that our approval should not be considered an endorsement".
Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said that it was clear from the Israeli website for the bonds that these were marketed as "war bonds" with proceeds going to support the financing of the war in Gaza.
"This isn't shares in Coca-Cola, this is to kill kids, this is the destruction of an entire state, this is incursions into Lebanon and elsewhere," he said.
"This is carpet-bombing, this is ethnic cleansing at a massive scale."
Mr Makhlouf said he wished to state his own views which he believed were shared by the Central Bank that "all of us are absolutely appalled at what is happening in the Middle East and we however have to work within certain parameters.
He said it was different to the situation where sanctions were imposed on Russia when it was clear what the Central Bank could do in that instance.
"Those sort of moves have not been taken by the European Union, they have not been taken by the State and we remain, however deep felt the feelings we ahve on what is happening over there, we have to work within the framework of the law as it exists."
Mr Doherty suggested that there was a clause in the regulations that would allow the Central Bank some "wriggle room" to allow Ireland to avoid being the home country for the sale of these bonds.
Mr Makhlouf said he would take away that suggestion and think very hard on it.
The issue was also raised by People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd-Barrett who asked whether there was any moral or ethical framework governing the facilitation of the sale of such bonds.
While Independent Senator, Alice Mary Higgins, said there were very serious questions to be answered in relation to the completeness of the information provided by the issuer and the comprehensibility of it.
"If it is the fact those who are responsible, the Central Bank, the competent authority, are saying that information may not have been in the prosepectus, that become an issue," she stated.
She said the situation needs to be learned from and the Central Bank also needs to look at whether there are options available to the regulator today.
