More than 300 sporting figures have signed a letter to Swim Ireland chief executive Sarah Keane asking that she use her role as a commissioner of the Central Bank of Ireland to push for a reconsideration of its position in relation to Israeli state bonds.
Former rugby internationals John Robbie, Tony Ward and Trevor Hogan along with soccer international Ruesha Littlejohn and Dublin footballer Leah Caffrey are among those to sign the letter.
It urges Ms Keane to “raise the ending of regulation of Israel bonds as a matter of the gravest urgency with the Central Bank of Ireland banking commission or demand an emergency meeting of the banking commission before the renewal date at the end of August”.
International footballer James McClean, Olympic boxer Paddy Barnes and former rugby international Jenny Murphy are among the signatories.
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The Central Bank’s approval for the prospectus of the bonds is due to be renewed by that time.
Helen Mahony, of Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said on Thursday the group had written to the Central Bank’s commission and each of its individual members three times, but had no response other than a letter from its secretary.
This reply acknowledged the correspondence, but said it stood by Gabriel Makhlouf’s view that the regulator “has to approve a prospectus for the offer of securities to the public where it meets the required standards of completeness and consistency”. Bonds are types of financial securities.
He said the law “is also clear that our approval should not be considered an endorsement of the issuer or of the securities”.
There is particular disappointment, the Palestine support groups say, that neither Ms Keane nor former senior trade unionist Shay Cody, who is also on the commission, has done more to raise concerns about the bank’s position.
In their letter, the sporting figures argue the Bank is subject not only to EU banking financial regulations but also to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
“This is encoded in Irish law in the Genocide Act, 1973,” the letter states. “Persons contributing to and in the knowledge that genocide is happening are punishable under the Act, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
“The link between dead Palestinians and the Central Bank is a straight line.”
Former rugby international Trevor Hogan said on Thursday: “For me, it feels like they’re hiding behind the regulations.
“There’s a wider legal interpretation that they could take, and I also think there’s a sporting and human angle [against which] they could reconsider what they’re doing here. They could just take a stand and say, ‘Sorry, no, we’re not going to sign this’.”
People need to “push hard like we did with South Africa in the apartheid era,” he said. “Everyone knew the kind of right and wrong there and we’re at that stage now.”
The appeal to Ms Keane, he said, was not intended to personalise the issue, but was based in part on her connection to sport and appreciation of the way it, along with so many aspects of normal daily life, has been completely devastated.
Former basketball international Rebecca O’Keeffe said: “Over 800 athletes and sports personnel have murdered so far in the West Bank and Gaza, since October 2023, over 470 of them football players, yet we see Fifa saying nothing.”
