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Central Bank urged to clarify Ireland’s position on Israeli bonds
🇮🇪 Ireland /Economy & Trade

Central Bank urged to clarify Ireland’s position on Israeli bonds

From RTÉ News · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Luxembourg’s authorisation of Israeli bonds expired at midnight after the country chose not to renew it.
  • Ireland’s Central Bank has not confirmed whether responsibility for approving the bonds has returned to it.
  • Sinn Féin’s Mairéad Farrell called for urgent clarification and said Ireland should not remain the home state for the bonds, while Finance Minister Simon Harris has said officials engaged with the European Commission.

Ireland’s Central Bank is under pressure to explain whether it has again become responsible for approving Israeli state bond prospectuses after Luxembourg ended its authorisation at midnight.

Luxembourg held the role from September 2025. Ireland had previously been designated the home state for the responsibility after the United Kingdom left the European Union. Israel now needs another country to take on the role if it wants to continue raising funds from investors in European markets.

The prospectus that was approved by the CSSF has expired today.

— Central Bank spokespersonThe bank confirmed that Luxembourg’s authorisation arrangement had expired but did not say whether Ireland had assumed responsibility.

The Central Bank has not confirmed whether it is resuming the responsibility. It said only that the arrangement between Israel and Luxembourg’s financial regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, expired on Tuesday. “The prospectus that was approved by the CSSF has expired today,” a Central Bank spokesperson told RTÉ.

The Bank of Israel would have needed to submit an application for its prospectus to Ireland by the end of August. In July, Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that the institution had acted lawfully in handling the bonds. He rejected claims that the bank could have stopped them from being issued last year and said he did not believe he could prevent another issuance this year.

We need urgent clarity from the Central Bank if a request for renewal of the Israeli bond prospectus has come to them from Israel and if this renewal has been accepted.

— Mairéad FarrellThe Sinn Féin finance spokesperson called for clarification over Ireland’s role in approving the bonds.

Sinn Féin lawmaker Mairéad Farrell, who chairs the finance committee, demanded clarity over whether Israel had requested a renewal and whether Ireland had accepted it. “We need urgent clarity from the Central Bank if a request for renewal of the Israeli bond prospectus has come to them from Israel and if this renewal has been accepted,” she said.

Farrell added: “We should have nothing to do with the funding of the genocide in Gaza.” She said Ireland should not renew the prospectus or remain the home state for the bonds, and accused the government of failing to act despite having more than a year to do so. A Sinn Féin motion to stop Ireland dealing with the bonds was defeated in the Dáil last year. Finance Minister Simon Harris has said he directed senior officials to discuss the issue with the European Commission.

We should have nothing to do with the funding of the genocide in Gaza.

— Mairéad FarrellFarrell argued that Ireland should not renew the prospectus or remain the home state for the bonds.
About this summary

Originally published by RTÉ News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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