The Oireachtas joint committee on finance, public expenditure, public service reform and digitalisation, and Taoiseach has made 15 recommendations in a report published yesterday.

Under the EU Prospectus Regulation, a prospectus must be drawn up, approved and published when securities are to be offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market in the EU.

Third country issuers must choose one of the EU competent authorities in the EU as their home member state, subject to certain criteria set out in the Regulation.

While the UK was previously chosen as the home member state for Israeli bonds, this was changed to Ireland after Brexit and has now drawn scrutiny in light of concerns about Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

The Central Bank of Ireland told the committee that it could only evaluate prospectuses, such as that submitted by the State of Israel, on their “completeness, comprehensibility and consistency”.

The Oireachtas committee has said Ireland should engage with other EU member states to secure an amendment to the Prospectus Regulation to allow European central banks to refuse to act as a competent authority.

“The committee further believes that the Central Bank is vested with powers that it has not yet exercised and makes a number of recommendations identifying areas which may provide the Central Bank with the opportunity to desist from facilitation of the prospectus,” chairperson Mairéad Farrell added.

“The joint committee encourages the Central Bank to exercise the powers available to it in this regard.

She continued: “The joint committee has concluded that it is not in Ireland’s best interest to hold these prospectuses as it further assists the financing of Israel’s violations of human rights and contraventions of international law.

“The committee is united in the position that the Central Bank of Ireland should desist insofar as is possible from the facilitation of Israeli bonds.”