The government’s failure to explicitly rule out the prospect of Ireland joining President Trump’s sinister Board of Peace is difficult to comprehend, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.
Senator Stephenson said:
“Donald Trump’s Board of Peace was initially billed as a body that would oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza – even though its proposed charter doesn’t even mention Gaza. Instead, it gives it a broad mandate to resolve global conflicts.
“However, given the list of people who have signalled they will join – including Netanyahu, Putin and Lukashenko – it would be more accurate to rename this body ‘the Board of Autocrats and War Criminals’.
“To highlight the sheer absurdity of this travesty, Netanyahu is unable to attend a signing ceremony for the Board of Peace today because, as an indicted war criminal, he fears being arrested if he turns up in Davos.
“Meanwhile, the Irish government is prevaricating over whether it intends to join the Board of Peace, with the Taoiseach saying he is examining President Trump’s invitation. And in the Dáil today, Tánaiste Simon Harris said that while he can’t imagine Ireland joining, he refused to unequivocally rule it out.
“Other EU and European countries – including Britain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Slovenia – have had no such difficulty in declining. Our government needs to show similar backbone by refusing to join Trump’s joke of a peace initiative and instead focus on enacting the Occupied Territories Bill without further delay.
“However, given the Tánaiste’s vague response in the Dáil today when pressed on the matter by my colleague Cian O’Callaghan TD, it is now apparent that this long-awaited legislation is dead in the water.”
January 22, 2026