Louth Sinn Féin mark Nakba anniversary

The issue of Palestine was brought to Dundalk FC supporters before their home game against Cork by Louth Sinn Féin members who stood along the Carrick Road holding Palestinian flags and posters as ticket holders made their way to the venue.

The event was attended by Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú and was to highlight the 75th anniversary of the ‘Nakba’, on May 15, or ‘Catastrophe’ which recalls the displacement of Palestinian Arabs following the 1948 Palestine war .

The Sinn Féin action came days before the party bring a bill before Leinster House on divestment on Tuesday and last week, Deputy Ó Murchú used his time in the Dáil to bring the issue to the fore.

He said:

“This will deal with the unsavoury position that the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, is a shareholder in nine companies involved in illegal settlements in Palestine.

“We all realise the great wrong that has been done and continues to be done, even in recent days, to the Palestinian people.

We know the Irish people have been on the side of the Palestinian people,” he claimed.

He continued:

“I do not think it is particularly great for us that, through ISIF, which is a State entity, we are shareholders in what are internationally criminal actions by a right-wing Israeli regime.

“I would like to think we would have support across the House for making it illegal for ISIF to invest in and be a shareholder in companies involved in something that is utterly reprehensible.

“We need to ensure Irish companies and companies operating out of here do not fan the flames of what are brutal attacks on human rights and, beyond that, murderous campaigns by particular regimes.

“It is not all right with the Irish people and I do not think it is all right with many of us here. We need to ensure we have the means to carry out due diligence in order that we can have transparency,” he concluded.