LAST UPDATE | 15 Oct

IT NOW APPEARS increasingly unlikely that a ban on trade in services will be included in the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB), proposed legislation that would prohibit trade in goods with companies operating from Palestinian territories illegally occupied by Israel.

Independent Senator Frances Black, who first introduced the Bill in 2018, said she is “extremely concerned” that trade in services could be excluded.

Black, who has led the campaign for the Bill’s passage, was responding to reports that the Government may seek to amend it to apply only to goods.

“This would significantly undermine both the intent and the impact of the Bill, and is totally at odds with the clear, unanimous vote of all members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, including TDs from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil,” she said.

Her comments follow remarks made in the Dáil yesterday by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who said that, in relation to including services: “The feedback I am getting is it is not just implementable.”

Martin made the comment after being pressed by several opposition TDs to commit to a full ban covering both goods and services under the legislation.

He did not make such a commitment.

A number of Irish aid organisations, including Trócaire and Oxfam, have called for services to be included in the Bill.

“Leadership now means including services. That is where the money is. It’s what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) says is required, and it’s where intense pressure is being applied to get Ireland to back down,” Senator Black said in her statement.

During Leaders’ Questions this afternoon, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said that excluding services would contradict the recommendations of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, which, in a July report, “strongly recommended” progressing the Bill with both goods and services included.

Cairns noted that this recommendation aligns with the ICJ’s advisory opinion and a UN General Assembly resolution co-sponsored by Ireland.

“Why is the Government intent on diluting the Occupied Territories Bill?” she asked Martin.

Cairns said this why Ireland has “a duty under international law to end all trade with illegal Israeli settlements”.

She said a “huge component of trade between Ireland and the illegal settlements will continue” if the bill is enacted without the inclusion of services. 

In response, Martin suggested there may be economic and legal complexities if services were included, but stressed that no final decision has been made.

“Services are a much different kettle of fish — we should all acknowledge that,” he said.

“That’s all I said; no decision has been made in relation to services, but we’re endeavouring to be honest with people.”

He added that the quantity of services imported from Occupied Territories was unknown but “not huge”.

Labour TD Duncan Smith also criticised any move to exclude services, stating that it “would make a mockery of our values.”

“The exclusion of services from the Occupied Territories Bill undermines its purpose. That cannot be tolerated,” Smith said in a statement.

“Passing the full Bill, including both goods and services, would send a clear message: Ireland will not profit from or enable occupation.”

Tánaiste Simon Harris has previously said he was willing to consider the inclusion of services if it is legally possible.

A list of companies who operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and facilitate with the ongoing occupation of Palestinian land in the West Bank and the wide Israeli settlement movement, was published by the UN in 2020.