Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is fine.

To be clear, while I do not believe we should have to put these provisions in the law, apparently we actually have to include them to make it explicit. We heard from those who manage the assets of the State in the NTMA and other bodies that they need political or legislative direction in terms of doing the right thing, which they should be doing anyway. It would be incredibly regrettable. It is one thing that we are trying to unpick the poor and wrong investment choices made by the State in the past which have allowed us to be implicated in investing in companies that are operating outside of the proper law. This is serious. They are very big companies. Just because they are very big companies in some cases does not mean they are not breaking the law. It does not mean they are not operating without a legal basis. Some of the places where these companies are operating are disempowered or poor, lack recognition, and are less likely to be able to take action. We know the brave and long battle that Western Sahara has had in trying to take cases against the illegal operation of trade and extraction of resources from its territory, which is illegally occupied and awaiting a referendum. Currently there is no basis for Morocco to be trading in any goods that come from Western Sahara. They have been taking their case painstakingly through the European Court of Justice and so forth. It should not come to territories to do that. We should be doing the right things in the first place.

Now we are here so that we do not have to pass some future Bill in some future Oireachtas where we depressingly are trying to get divestment, asking questions or having statements about investments of the future Ireland fund or the infrastructure, climate and nature fund. I know much of that investment is going to be in Ireland. That is the hope. We hope it is happening nationally to a large extent. The problem is whether it will be with companies and entities that are also operating in occupied territories. It does not have to be a direct investment in whatever is happening, a particular practice in an occupied territory. It is about investment in companies and undertakings that are operating within occupied territories. For me, this is really clear. It is around not making mistakes that were made by the State in the past. Those mistakes are now being slowly unravelled but with a reluctance to face that some of the biggest companies Ireland has invested in are implicated in this way. That is why the divestment that is happening at the moment has been incomplete. This is an opportunity for us to get it right from the start on these funds. What is exciting about these funds is that they really are meant to be directed at the future and at the idea of infrastructure, climate and nature. They are meant to be directed towards things which are in themselves a public good. It would be a pity if that goal and mission were compromised by the kind of inappropriate investments that Ireland has sadly made in the past.