Amnesty International has called on the Government to investigate links between Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) and the construction of Israel's controversial security fence in the West Bank.
Human rights groups say the fence is dividing communities and restricting the movement of Palestinians.
Amnesty yesterday said a subsidiary of CRH's, Nesher Cement, was supplying cement for the wall. The Government has criticised the wall as illegal under international law.
A spokesman for CRH, however, said it had a minority stake in the company and that other firms were also supplying cement in the region.
"Nesher is not involved in the manufacture of concrete, or concrete products, or construction activities in the region."
But the secretary general of Amnesty's Irish section, Mr Colm Ó Cuanacháin, said it was now up to the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, to investigate whether Irish companies were contributing to human rights violations in the area. "The Irish Government has been quick and loud in its condemnation of human rights violations. But is the Tánaiste aware that the EU and the Government have both strongly condemned the building of the fence/wall as illegal under international law?" he said.
A spokeswoman for Ms Harney yesterday said the matter was one for the Department of Foreign Affairs and that Ms Harney's Department did not have a role in monitoring companies' human rights records.
Amnesty also made a presentation before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, which said it would be disappointed if there was an Irish role in the construction of the wall.
Committee chairman, Senator Paul Bradford (Fine Gael), said the group would invite the Israeli ambassador before the committee to hear of the country's justification for the wall.
Mr Jeff Halper, the co-ordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, told the committee yesterday that the key issue surrounding the construction of the wall was not so much the physical barrier as the route of the wall.
"Israel's policy since 1967 has been to make its occupation permanent. This has nothing to do with security. It's a political border and it's intended to create a new apartheid situation," he said.
