{"id":15111,"date":"2026-01-22T13:52:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=15111"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:52:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:52:55","slug":"governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/","title":{"rendered":"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out the prospect of Ireland joining President Trump\u2019s sinister Board of Peace is difficult to comprehend, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Stephenson said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace was initially billed as a body that would oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza \u2013 even though its proposed charter doesn\u2019t even mention Gaza. Instead, it gives it a broad mandate to resolve global conflicts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, given the list of people who have signalled they will join \u2013 including Netanyahu, Putin and Lukashenko \u2013 it would be more accurate to rename this body \u2018the Board of Autocrats and War Criminals\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeanwhile, the Irish government is prevaricating over whether it intends to join the Board of Peace, with the Taoiseach saying he is examining President Trump\u2019s invitation. And in the D\u00e1il today, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said that while he can\u2019t imagine Ireland joining, he refused to unequivocally rule it out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther EU and European countries \u2013 including Britain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Slovenia\u00a0\u2013 have had no such difficulty in declining. Our government needs to show similar backbone by refusing to join Trump\u2019s joke of a peace initiative and instead focus on enacting the Occupied Territories Bill without further delay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, given the T\u00e1naiste\u2019s vague response in the D\u00e1il today when pressed on the matter by my colleague Cian O\u2019Callaghan TD, it is now apparent that this long-awaited legislation is dead in the water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>January 22, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out the prospect of Ireland joining President Trump\u2019s sinister Board of Peace is difficult to comprehend, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. Senator Stephenson said: \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace was initially billed as a body that would oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza \u2013 even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[408,529,641,7,680],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-affairs","category-gaza","category-patricia-stephenson","category-press-release","category-trump"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out the prospect of Ireland joining President Trump\u2019s sinister Board of Peace is difficult to comprehend, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. Senator Stephenson said: \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace was initially billed as a body that would oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza \u2013 even [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-22T13:52:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\"},\"headline\":\"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-22T13:52:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":304,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Foreign Affairs\",\"Gaza\",\"Patricia Stephenson\",\"Press Release\",\"Trump\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/\",\"name\":\"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-22T13:52:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\",\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/press\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling - Social Democrats","og_description":"The government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out the prospect of Ireland joining President Trump\u2019s sinister Board of Peace is difficult to comprehend, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. Senator Stephenson said: \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s Board of Peace was initially billed as a body that would oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza \u2013 even [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2026-01-22T13:52:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Officer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Officer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/"},"author":{"name":"Press Officer","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7"},"headline":"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling","datePublished":"2026-01-22T13:52:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/"},"wordCount":304,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg","articleSection":["Foreign Affairs","Gaza","Patricia Stephenson","Press Release","Trump"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/","name":"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-22T13:52:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251209-Patricia-02.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-failure-to-explicitly-rule-out-joining-sinister-board-of-peace-is-baffling\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Government\u2019s failure to explicitly rule out joining sinister Board of Peace is baffling"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7","name":"Press Officer","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/press\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15112,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15111\/revisions\/15112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}