{"id":469100,"date":"2026-05-27T06:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/469100\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T06:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:36:10","slug":"opposition-parties-vow-to-toughen-gutted-occupied-territories-bill-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/469100\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition parties vow to toughen \u2018gutted\u2019 Occupied Territories Bill \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opposition parties vowed to try to toughen the Occupied Territories Bill<\/a>, which targets Israeli imports produced from Palestinian lands, when the Government brings it to the Oireachtas in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The Cabinet agreed at its meeting yesterday morning to bring forward the Bill <\/a>after years of delay. Fine Gael Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said she hopes to have it on the statute books by the summer recess in mid-July. It is expected that the Bill will be brought to the D\u00e1il after next week\u2019s recess.<\/p>\n

The Government has decided to proceed with the proposed legislation despite deep misgivings among some senior figures about the potential diplomatic and economic fallout. It is understood the Irish Embassy in Washington, headed by Geraldine Byrne Nason, has warned about possible negative consequences if the Bill passes. The Industrial Development Authority has also warned about it.<\/p>\n

\"\"Taoiseach has Gaza on his mind amid European tour <\/p>\n

The proposed legislation, formally entitled the Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026, will prohibit the import of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Once it is enacted and takes effect, the importation of goods originating in the settlements into the Republic will be an offence under section 14 of the Customs Act 2015.<\/p>\n

Just \u20ac200,000 of goods are imported from the territories every year, it is estimated.<\/p>\n

Crucially, however, the proposed legislation <\/a>will not apply to trade in services. Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said that \u201cfundamentally, it\u2019s not implementable in terms of services\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cSecondly, our strong legal advice is in the negative also. And thirdly, it would perhaps potentially damage Ireland more than anybody else. In terms of potential impacts on US multinationals based here and back in America, but more fundamentally, it\u2019s just simply not implementable.\u201d <\/p>\n

But there were angry exchanges in the D\u00e1il, when Opposition TDs accused Martin of reneging on promises to ban all trade with the settlements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have stalled, delayed, blocked and now you have gutted the Bill,\u201d said Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald. <\/p>\n

She said excluding services from the Bill was \u201ca cop-out \u2026 It can\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said the Government had to consider the implications for Irish jobs<\/a>. And he accused Richard Boyd-Barrett of People Before Profit-Solidarity of wanting a total boycott of Israel, to which several Opposition TDs voiced their support.<\/p>\n

Later, Independent Senator Frances Black, who first introduced a version of the Bill in 2018, said what the Coalition had agreed this week \u201cwas essentially a partial ban on trade with the illegal Israeli settlements. It omits the majority of Irish trade, in intangible services like tech and IT, and greatly undermines the scope of the legislation. Government still haven\u2019t given any coherent, detailed justification for this beyond short soundbites.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Occupied Territories Bill: All you need to knowOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She would seek to work with Opposition parties to amend the Bill, she said. <\/p>\n

The United States embassy in Dublin declined to comment. But it has previously expressed concerns about the proposed legislation, warning it could affect US businesses operating in Dublin.<\/p>\n

Pro-Israel organisations as well as groups of congressional representatives in the US have also criticised the Bill in the past. They have warned that it could mean US companies in the Republic fall foul of US laws that penalise boycotts of Israel.<\/p>\n

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the State\u2019s human rights watchdog, called for \u201ccourage and principled leadership\u201d from the Coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe International Court of Justice has made clear that states must avoid economic or trade dealings that support or entrench Israel\u2019s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory. That obligation does not distinguish between goods and services, and neither should this legislation,\u201d said chief commissioner Liam Herrick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opposition parties vowed to try to toughen the Occupied Territories Bill, which targets Israeli imports produced from Palestinian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[895,3775,42,1843,43,4503,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-469100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-fianna-fail","tag-fine-gael","tag-headlines","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-occupied-territories-bill","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}