Write a comment
Newry City Councillor Killian Feehan secured cross-party support for an emergency council motion at last evening's monthly meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, calling on the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC) to sell Israeli government bonds after Cllr Feehan's party, the SDLP recently learned that NILGOSC had purchased the bonds using pension contributions from public sector workers including Councillors in the North.
Councillor Feehan explained “There was shock and outrage when public sector workers recently learned that their pension contributions were being used to purchase bonds from the Israeli government. The NILGOSC pension scheme has around 176,000 members, including councillors and staff from the likes of the Education Authority and Housing Executive."
The Newry City Councillor added “Many, myself included, were stunned to learn that our pension contributions were going to fund the Israeli government and could be used as part of their genocidal campaign in Gaza. The sheer scale of human suffering seen in Gaza has caused widespread horror among people of all political backgrounds. I cannot countenance anyone advocating that pension contributions from public sector workers should fund that suffering.
“I urged councillors to back my motion and send a clear message that NILGOSC must sell these bonds immediately and commit that there will be no repeat of this in future. This is a clear cut, moral imperative. I was not prepared to stay silent, while my pension contributions and those of 176,000 other public sector workers in the North are being used to fund a government that is currently under investigation for genocide at the International Court of Justice."
Councillors from the SDLP, Sinn Féin, Alliance and one independent supported the motion.
The Motion
This council notes that Northern Ireland Local Government pension provider NILGOSC purchased government bonds from the Israeli government which are being used by the Tel Aviv administration to fund its operations both within Israel and other territories.
As the pension provider for all local council workers, the Education Authority, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, NI Libraries and many others including schools, it is a shock to many of the 176,000 members of this pension scheme that it is directly funding the Netanyahu-led government. Given the widespread horror felt by people of all political backgrounds at the targeting of civilians and children by the Israeli government in the war in Gaza the use of workers' and public sector money in a loan to the Israeli government is unacceptable.
Newry Mourne and Down District Council expresses its deep concern at the decision to purchase these bonds and calls on NILGOSC to dispose of them immediately.
