On June 5th 2025, Trinity’s Board voted to cut ties with Israel, following recommendations made via a report by the taskforce on Academic and Institutional International Links and Related Matters. This outcome means that the College will not renew their exchange programme with two Israeli universities – Bar Ilan University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Additionally, no further research engagements will be made with Israeli universities, and the College will fully divest from all companies headquartered in Israel. However, existing research agreements with Israel will still be honoured.
The taskforce was a condition of May 2024’s encampment agreement, which took place at Trinity. The resulting taskforce met fourteen times over the academic year, accepted submissions from the public, and allowed five student spaces on the board – one seat which was given to David Landy, and the two other seats went to Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Jenny Maguire, and the outgoing TCD Boycott Divestment Sanctions Chairperson, Patrick Keegan.
The board also decided that “Furthermore, the College should seek to align itself with like-minded universities and bodies in an effort to influence EU policy concerning Israel’s participation in such collaborations.”
Speaking to The University Times, Patrick Keegan said: “The board of Trinity College Dublin has voted to fully divest from Israel, not enter any new academic collaborations with Israeli institutions, and to not use any Israeli suppliers. This marks a historic moment, as Trinity is the first university in the western world to fully cut ties with Israel, and I hope that this starts a flood of similar decisions from other universities around the world; this is living proof that student activism works.”
Israel is an apartheid state who is actively committing a genocide against the Palestinian people, and Trinity’s decision is a truly principled one.”
“I would like to personally thank everyone who has helped make this possible, there would be too many names to name each one, but I would like to thank everyone in TCD BDS, TCDSU / AMLCT, AfP, the trade unions, and other groups who made this possible.”
“Additionally, the board has agreed to our recommendations that Trinity works with other universities in the EU to put pressure on EU policies regarding Israeli participation in research collaborations, which is a massive first step to removing Israel from Horizon Europe.”
On the day the Board voted to cut ties, a student protest took place with approximately 100 attendees.
Last May, four Trinity students were fined €214,285 during the encampment for blocking access to the Book of Kells – a move criticised by Senators, students, and board members. Linda Doyle later quietly rescinded the fine.
12/06/25 Correction and update: An earlier iteration of this article read that there were three students spaces on the taskforce – when there were in fact five. Further, Trinity is not proactively ending its ongoing exchange programme with Israeli universities, which end in 2025 and 2026. This article was also updated to include Patrick Keegan’s statement.
