COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, November 11, 2024

MOTION NO.1

MOTION: Councillor J. Spear

That Council agrees to make South Dublin County Council an apartheid-free zone and boycott all Israeli goods.

REPORT:

According to the website Apartheid Free Zones - Apartheid Free Zones (an initiative of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign), the Apartheid Free Zones campaign promotes the creation of spaces of proactive solidarity with the Palestinian people. Inspired by the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the Apartheid Free Zones (AFZ) campaign seeks to cut links of complicity in any Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, especially those related to the UN-defined crime of apartheid.

An organisation or business that wants to become an Apartheid Free Zone commits to supporting the principles of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign that aims to help Palestinians to win their freedom, to boycotting Israeli products and institutions, and international companies that profit from Israeli human rights abuses, and to publicly declaring that it is an Apartheid Free Zone.

The Council is advised that this motion is not implementable, even if agreed by Council, as boycotting of goods, services or works is contrary to EU and Irish Procurement law.

The rationale of the EU public procurement regime is to open up the public procurement market and to ensure the free movement of goods, services and works within the EU and promotes the fundamental principles of non-discrimination, free movement of goods and services and freedom of establishment. These principles are reinforced in secondary EU law by the EU Directives on public procurement which set out precise rules and procedures designed to ensure equal treatment, mutual recognition, proportionality and transparency in the awarding of public contracts. The EU Directives on public procurement are transposed into Irish national law by Member States. Transposition in Ireland, is by way of Statutory Instrument (S.I.). Even in the case of procurement which might not be subject to the full scope of the Directives, the European Commission (EC) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have ruled that the Treaty principles must be observed. CJEU case law implies a requirement to publicise contracts to a degree which allows parties in other Member States the opportunity to express an interest or to submit tenders.

All procurement opportunities in South Dublin County Council for contracts worth in excess of €50,000 for goods and services and €200,000 for works, are advertised on E-Tenders, www.etenders.gov.ie National frameworks available through the Office of Government Procurement www.ogp.gov.ie and local Government Operational Procurement Centre (LGOPC) www.supplygov.ie are also utilised.