THE GOVERNMENT IS still considering legal advice around ‘services’ being included in the Occupied Territories Bill, Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence Thomas Byrne has said. 

It had been reported that the minister told Reuters the Occupied Territories Bill would be limited to the import of goods and it would not become law this year.

Speaking to The Journal today, Byrne clarified is comments, stating that he was merely giving a “factual position” regarding the heads of the Bill that have been published by government, and which only mentions goods. 

He stated that the programme for government also only commits to progressing legislation regarding prohibiting goods from Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

When asked if he didn’t think ‘services’ would be included in the legislation, Byrne told The Journal: 

I didn’t say that, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that the government is considering it and looking at the legal advice and the possibilities that are there.

He acknowledged that the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee made a number of recommendations, which he said the government is working through at the moment.

“One was in relation to services, and another, in fact, was in relation to the implications that the bill might have for Ireland, but that was what the TDs from all parties asked the government to look at.

“So at the moment, the government is working through that, and they are. We are looking at the issue of services. And what I said in the Dáil recently was that the legal position on goods was relatively clear. The legal position on services is not quite as clear.

“So there’s a lot of work being done at the moment in relation to services, but it’s simply a fact that the original heads of Bill as published by the government, and the programme for government commitment, relates to goods,” he added. 

Opposition leaders have been pushing for the legislation to go through the Dáil before Christmas, however, with the Dáil rising for the holidays next week, it is unlikely that this will be the case. 

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Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire TD hit out at Byrne today over his comments, stating that the majority of the public will continue to campaign for an Occupied Territories Bill to include both goods and services.

He said not including services, would show the government is completely out of touch with the vast majority of the population and said any watering down of the bill would be a shameful act on the part of this government.

Senator Frances Black, who proposed the bill in its original form, said she would push to include a ban on services. She told The Journal this week that she is now questioning whether the legislation is a priority for this government.