SDLP Newry councillor Killian Feehan has secured cross-party support for an emergency council motion calling on the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC) to sell Israeli government bonds.
The SDLP recently learned that NILGOSC had purchased the bonds using pension contributions from public sector workers in the North.
The motion was heard at a meeting of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council on Monday night.
Councillors from the SDLP, Sinn Féin, Alliance and one independent supported the motion.
Councillor Feehan said:
“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.
“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.
ENDS
CLANRYE NEWS 