Irish Dáil passes bill banning goods from occupied territories

A long-awaited bill banning Israeli goods from occupied Palestinian territories has passed its final stages in the Irish Dáil without including services from the region. The Government-drafted Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) bill passed through its report and final stages on Tuesday without a vote.

It will now be sent to the Seanad next week and, if it is also passed by the Upper House, will be signed into law. The bill is a renewed version of the original Occupied Territories Bill first drafted by Independent senator Frances Black almost a decade ago in 2018. This original bill included a call for a ban on both goods and services.

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services take up 70% of Ireland's interactions with Israel and the occupied territories, and that the bill will not go far enough unless services as well as goods are included.

However, despite an Oireachtas foreign affairs committee recommending both would be included, the Government has stated its legal advice is that banning services would present too big an appeal risk. This has led to repeated clashes between the coalition and the opposition, the majority of which believe the bill will be ineffective unless it includes both goods and services.

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it is a fallacy for Government to say it would be technically difficult to include services, before alleging Ireland is bowing to influence and pressure from the US and with the wording of the bill does not represent the will of the Irish people.

On Tuesday, the Dáil heard a number of opposition amendments to the Government bill during a curtailed 90-minute debate. Sinn Féin's foreign affairs spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire argued for the inclusion of an amendment to ensure Palestinians in illegal Israeli settlements continue to be able to export their goods. Speaking in support of the amendment, People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy said the matter had been explored at committee stage, and said that the arguments expressed at that stage still stood.

That amendment was defeated, with Fine Gael TD and minister of state for international development and the diaspora, Neale Richmond, saying the Government saw it as unnecessary to achieve the outcome all sides in the Dáil want – namely that Palestinians continue to be able to export their goods. Speaking during the final stage debate on the bill, Labour's foreign affairs spokesperson Duncan Smith said the Government is "effectively watering down" the original bill. Deputy Smith said "services take up 70%" of Ireland's interactions with Israel and the occupied territories, and that the bill will not go far enough unless services as well as goods are included. The Labour TD added it is "a fallacy" for the Government to say it would be technically difficult to include services, before alleging Ireland is "bowing to influence and pressure from the US" and that the wording of the bill "does not represent the will of the Irish people". People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger raised similar concerns, saying "the Government has never explained how Spain and Slovenia could do it [include both goods and services], and Ireland can't". Deputy Coppinger continued that while the bill began almost a decade ago from the original document drafted by Independent sen

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the Government has never explained how Spain and Slovenia could do it [include both goods and services], and Ireland can't.