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THE GOVERNMENT HAS been urged not to dilute the Occupied Territories Bill as senior figures in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael raise concerns about the impact the draft law will have on Ireland’s international standing.
In recent days, senior government and diplomatic figures have warned of possible trade retaliation from Israel and from the Trump administration in the US.
One senior government minister told The Journal that they believe the finalised law will be a “very vastly different Bill” than what was first tabled by Senator Frances Black in 2018.
“Frances Black’s bill that was proposed wasn’t constitutional anyway so that can’t be enacted,” the source said.
“The Tánaiste was very open about that on the record. It will take an awful lot of amendments and work to get a bill that would be constitutional,” they said.
The minister added that they personally have concerns about how the law would work in practice.
Asked about the possibility of the EU taking action against the bill, given that trade is an EU competence rather than the sole perogative of member states, the minister said:
“I’d be more worried about the [United] States than Brussels. The more immediate threat would be from the States I think.”
Asked how this “threat” might manifest, the minister said it depends.
“It’s anyone’s guess how serious the States would judge it.”
On enforcing the Bill, they said: “How is it going to be policed? That’s what I don’t understand.”
“I haven’t seen how we are going to implement it, is it only for symbolism but never going to be enforced? I don’t know how we could enforce it to be honest.
“It’s a tricky Bill, there’s more to it than meets the eye,” they added.
Despite these concerns, the minister said their understanding is that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste both remain “very committed” to getting the bill passed.
They added that it has not been a “sticking point” during government formation talks.
Hold firm
It is understood that there will be a commitment to passing the bill in the Programme for Government, the draft of which is to be published today. However, the level of detail that will be contained in the Programme for Government document remains to be seen.
One of the drafters of the original bill, Conor O’Neill, who is head of policy at the humanitarian NGO Christian Aid, told The Journal that he believes there has been a level of “fear mongering” involved in a lot of the recent discussion of the bill.
“I think what you’re seeing is maybe other people in [Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael], or even some commentators who, in my view, regrettably, haven’t really looked at it in detail.
“One of the differences with Micheál Martin and Simon Harris is that they have been looking at this in detail for a long time. There have been long, detailed meetings with them and their officials on how would this work in practice…What are the implications, the technical ins and outs of it – and I think they get it,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill believes the test now will be whether it gets “watered down” as it progresses through the Oireachtas.
“It’s one thing having a bullet point in the Program For Government that says they will pass the Occupied Territories Bill. That’s a kind of a general commitment. What matters then is what shape it’s in, what they do to it or what they don’t do to it,” he said.
As it is currently drafted, the bill would cover both goods and services imported from occupied territories.
In O’Neill’s view, it will be important to watch if any exemptions are proposed for specific companies or perhaps exempting services as a whole, meaning the bill would only apply to the import of physical goods.
“The real value of this bill is the politics of it.
“This would effectively be the very first time that a Western European country would have applied a trade measure of this kind to Israel…I think that’s why this is important, because it’s the first step over that threshold to saying it’s not just words. There is going to be actual, real economic consequences,” O’Neill said.
Once the new government is up and running, what is likely to happen is that officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs, who have been preparing what O’Neill understands to be “technical amendments”, will have to meet with the new Minister for Foreign Affairs and the bill’s sponsor, Senator Black.
It will then be passed to the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee for further amendments.
“They will have to go through it line by line, and the minister might say, okay, there are 10, 11, 12 changes they want to make, and they’ll have to go through it and either accept or reject them,” O’Neill said.
Despite the concerns raised in recent days by government members, others within the ruling parties remain fully committed to enacting the legislation.
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews said Ireland has legal obligations it must adhere to as a result of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling last year which labelled Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories illegal.
“The Irish people have consistently asked that the Irish Government take a principled stand against the ongoing brutal actions of the Israeli Government in the Gaza Strip,” Andrews said.
The Dublin MEP said it would be “naive” to think the Israeli government would not respond in some way, but said “any threat of retaliation should not prevent the Irish government from doing the right thing”.
“While I understand there are risks involved in the passage of the Bill, this is not a rash decision.
“It is crucial that we remember the legally binding nature of the obligations set out by the ICJ, which includes the requirement for states to avoid engaging in trade relations with Israel relating to the occupied Palestinian territories, if they contribute to sustaining the illegal settlements.
“It goes without saying that any future legislation should be compliant with EU law,” Andrews added.
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I’ll finally have some respect for Harris and MM if they can get this done…..lots of Israel supporters are putting operation fear in motion.the latest is the EU will crush us last week it was the US…..
It’s a clever bill shows our solidarity and it’s the right thing to do..the Arab world will certainly take note…
@David Cotter: Lots of realists are highlighting the potential loss of billions to the Irish economy. We do, at most, €1.5 million in trade with companies in the disputed territories. The bill has zero tangible benefits for Palestinians. It’s the equivalent of student union politics for instagram. Trump is currently eyeing our FDI for repatriation to the US – compounding this with US state and federal laws that would be triggered by this bill would amount to the greatest single act of national self harm by any goverment.
Your solidarity won’t replace the billions that were sacrificed so we could stop 1.5 million in trade.
@honey badger:
Thought you’d be first badger to go again with operation fear
f#€k you’re money….children are being slaughtered
@David Cotter: The bill won’t help anyone in Gaza. The bill won’t help anyone in the disputed territories. The bill will help it’s authors feel good. The bill threatens our economy with the loss of billions. It’s definitionally an act of national self-harm. F#€k your own lack of foresight.
@honey badger: so it’s the money/economy again…my god try really try not to think of your selfishness for once
@Dave G Doe: is that you bibi…
@David Cotter: badger is right though. Why run the risk of sacrificing ones own economy for a war you’re not even involved in. As bad as it sounds, first look after your own people before helping others.
@Michael Ryan: your not a (we will fight them on the beaches)type of man are you Michael
@Tired Jim: phew…wasn’t sure if I was on th the right side of this argument….now thank you jim I know I am
@David Cotter: You soound like a Brexiter with your project fear and we can see how thats worked out for them.
@David Cotter: ‘Jim’ and ‘Dave’ are two profiles of the same troll: an extremely low person.
@David Cotter: … an extremely low person who lies a lot.
@honey badger: Israel’s economy is on the brink, the less money they have to fund this genocide the more pressure they feel to stop.
If we can’t conscientiously object without fear of reprisal by the country bankrolling them, then we are not free either
@Michael Ryan: “so look after your own people before helping others”. Does that apply to Ukraine as well? Ireland could save billions on gas and oil by trading with Russia. So should we trade with Russia and look after our own?
@David Cotter: There is no reason for Ireland to join with that other basket case government that cannot even keep the lights on in South Africa and also make us an outlier in the EU.
Getting involved in the ME dispute is like crossing the road to intervene in a fight between two rival gangs. It has nothing but danger and no upside.
The OTB is more like students’ unions type posturing by the unemployable left that ignores the reality of where their dole payments come from and recklessly want to pišš off our biggest trading partner and creater of employment.
Ireland could have acted in the role of an honest broker in this dispute instead of throwing our lot in completely with the side that elected terrorists to run their territory and squander billions in foreign aid.
@Michael Ryan: we are not ar war with Russia but it has cost us hundreds of millions in added energy prices and trade.
Yes I am against the invasion but why retaliate to one and not the other?
This bill should have been enacted years ago. The stealing of land from the Palestinian people hasn’t just been going on in recent years, it’s been happening since 1948. As Irish people, we’re well aware of the problems a plantation can cause, having had nearly 400 years of it in our own occupied northern counties. The likes of Regina Doherty would sell out the indigenous people of Palestine, just like she sold out her own country men and women. Her likes are once again on the wrong side of history.
@Anthony Curran: in 1948 Arabs in the region, tried to forcibly take land that Jews had legally purchased. It backfired, and many Arabs in turn were forced or fled from their land. That’s the context.
@Fran Ken: jeez Fran, ya can’t be saying that on here!! None of the pro Palestinians want to hear the truth !
Of course ot will be watered down.
What now for Harris and Martin, will they propose a bill on the illegal occupation of Tibet by China? I wonder why that won’t happen.
@AnthonyK: Occupied territories bill applies to business with all occupied territories around the world, not just Israeli settlements
@AnthonyK: “THE GOVERNMENT HAS been urged” needs to be clarified. WHO is getting at our politicians ? When no names of the mysterious urgers can be given it sounds like threatening behaviour that should be exposed. Stockholm syndrome fear of dealing with Hamas supporters should be investigated by our balanced Media.
Totally unworkable wokery from the pro Palestinian sheeple..
How are they going to enforce it ? What if a tiny component of a bigger product was to originate in an occupied terrority ? Is that gonna mean it will be boycotted .
Remember, if you are using an iPhone, chances are it’s full of Israeli tech .. Google Maps has lots of Israeli tech, so are we going to boycott that ? How do we know specifically what comes from the disputed ‘occupied’ areas.
Our friends in Washington will not be pleased with us annoying their closer friends, the Jews.
All this virtue signalling is all fun and games until Mr Zuckerberg (himself a jew) tells us to F off and takes his facebook off elsewhere and puts 1000s outta work and deprives the taxman of Billions..
How d’ya like me now ?
The misreading of history is causing death The ambitions of Islam have met the survival imperative of the Jewish people not to be slaughtered. We already got the two State solution to settle this peacefully when 72% of Palestine was allocated to Arab Palestinians which is called Jordan and 22% to Palestinian Jews called Israel should be respected and maintained .
@thomas molloy: Blaming Muslims for this mess when we all know it’s the brits and germans to blame is wild
@thomas molloy: Jordan is not the second state outlined in the two state solution. A solution which, by undermining the Oslo accords Israel and the US has demonstrated they only pay lip service to as a political football to advance the occupation
@Hayagriva: ypu do realise theboslo accords, Israel agreed to pay the vat on all purchases by Palestinians to the Palestinian government and that money ended up in the great yassir arafats personal account. At the time of his death he had ovwr 1.3billion ib money and assets, including property in tbe USA.
@James Brennan: Even if that was true, it doesn’t change the violations Israel has committed
I’m shocked about the amount of misinformation in the comments and the amount of people willing to let children die for a few euro in their own pocket.
@Trump24: disgusting comment, hope you get banned for that one.
@Hayagriva: It’s a fact they need time to finish the job.
Bin it all together there is absolutely no need for this woke nonsense
@Dave G Doe: Absolutely 100% they need full support in wiping out their enemies
The ideals of the 1916 leaders led them to take on what seemed to be an impossible task and Ireland became an example to the world.
Let Ireland now take on an impossible task and once again become an example to the world, not for Irish freedom but in the name of humanity.
@michael powell: The 1916 rising was of very questionable benifit unless you believe the gorilla war of independence wouldn’t have happened without it.
Either way, it is simplistic to try to make comparisons with Israeli whilst ignoring every other conflict in the world.
All this needs to be done under the umbrella of the EU, don’t let the left clowns throw the Irish economy under a bus.
@Dave G Doe: Hopefully
@Dave G Doe: And flying the Hamas flag on Govt buildings. Disgraceful and an international embarrassment.
Israel isn’t going to stop doing what Israel is doing. The killing might stop but the agenda remains. They are trying to steal the Millennium Kingdom out from under your noses.
I know that sounds ridiculous but they’re using Bible Prophecy as a script. That way they can claim Devine Providence even though we were told not to force prophecy.
The Governments of the world are complicit, Rome is complicit, Jerusalem is complicit and Mecca is complicit in it.
They’re going to present the world with a Messiah, a false one, the ground work having being laid down over the last 40 years or so.
Everything has been leading up to this moment. The real one tried to stop them but they just laughed at him. Kicked him back down and pushed on with their plans. Unfortunately the worst is yet to come.
@Séamas Mac Cárthaigh: I think you’ve summarised the situation perfectly, and I, too, believe that nothing will change as mankind doesn’t have the ability to change. Religion is used to justify these wars and have done it since the beginning of time, to what end ?
I doubt very much a new” Messiah ” will rise from anywhere, but mankind has the abilities, if it wants to, to fix all these wars and all the other issues we face. But when people like Trump get elected on a message of hate and division it’s not looking like anything will change fir the better.
50% of Democratic countries had elections in 2024 and the same people/ideologies were re-elected.
@Séamas Mac Cárthaigh: And here’s me thinking that conspiracy theorists and cranks never comment on any Journal stories.
If Trump reacts to Ireland passing a moral and righteous bill, I will travel down to Doonbeg and take a hit-n-miss and a ‘Donny Trump’ in every hole in his golf course.
@Paul whitehead: They don’t let poor people in thankfully so you won’t be doing that.
Israel will be victorious
@Liam Money: Yes. Israel forever.
Will someone tell the government that woke is on the way out .
Let’s hope that some sort of common sense prevails and the government scraps their nonsensical and divisive bill and end their hateful obsession with Israel. Harris and Martin already got a clip around the ear for their unqualified anti-Israel blabbing before the election was held. It’s a useless and partisan bill which has no basis in both history and the present day. We need to be supporting the only democracy in the Middle East, not attacking it in an uneducated and vitriolic manner for no reason except to score cheap political points.
I have reported a number of comments here. Those alleging some kind of Jewish control of the world have been deleted as have some of them calling for Gaza to be wiped out but there are still a good few left referring to people as subhumans. I am no supporter of Hamas but this is not acceptable political discourse and has clear genocidal undertones. On what basis can these comments be allowed to stand when a comment alleging that the Jews control all of the banks was (rightly) deleted?
Disgusting to see the Hamas flag flying on Govt buildings.
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