LEGISLATION TO BAN imports from Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory has been approved by Cabinet.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris presented the proposed legislation, known officially as the Israeli Settlements Prohibition of Importation of Goods Bill 2025.

It comes years after similar proposed legislation – the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill – was introduced in 2018 but never enacted.

The proposed legislation would ban trade of goods with the Occupied Palestinian Territory by making any import from the OPT an offence under the Customs Act 2015.

It will mean that customs officers’ powers of entry, inspection, search, arrest, seizure, and forfeiture of goods that exist under the Customs Act will apply to the import of goods from Israeli settlements in the OPT.

Harris has said that he is open to the bill including the provision of services as well as goods and that he has asked the Attorney General to advise on whether this is legally possible.

Legally complex

Speaking at a press conference after Cabinet this afternoon, the Taoiseach said adding services to the bill would be legally complex and could have unintended consequences for Irish companies. 

“We don’t want Ireland to be harmed more than Israel in all of this. And I think all of that needs to be debated openly and transparently in the Dáil when it goes to the Committee stage,” he said.

At the same press conference, Harris added that introducing this bill is “the right thing to do” and that he hopes it might now encourage the EU to take further action. 

“If this is about having impact and getting the genocide to stop, it has to be about building a coalition at European level to maximise pressure on Israel,” he said. 

He added that it would be disingenuous for anyone to say the government only wants to include goods in the bill and said what the government actually wants to do is “get this right”. 

Pro-Palestine activists have campaigned for years for the government to enact legislation banning trade with Israeli settlements – calls that have heightened in the last two years while Israel has relentlessly bombarded Gaza.

Senator Frances Black, who tabled the Occupied Territories Bill in 2018, said last month that the government’s decision to enact a ban on illegal Israeli settlements was “a really important and welcome step, but our work is not done yet”.

“We need to see a full ban on all trade with the illegal Israeli settlements, which includes both physical goods like fruit and veg, but also intangible services like tech and IT.

“That is the standard set in the original Occupied Territories Bill which I tabled, and it’s what the International Court of Justice has said is required. The Tánaiste has committed to working on this when the Bill goes into the Dáil Foreign Affairs Committee in June, and I am certain that we can get the legal detail right if the political will is there.”

With reporting from Jane Matthews