Taoiseach says including services in Occupied Territories Bill is not implementable

Ireland is moving to outlaw imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, but Taoiseach Micheál Martin has ruled out widening the measure to cover services, saying such a step is “not implementable”.

The legislation, designed to ban the import of goods from those settlements, cleared Cabinet this morning and the Government intends to have it signed into law within weeks.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Mr Martin said extending the bill to services could carry consequences for Ireland.

He said that it could do so “more than anybody else in terms of potential impacts on US multinationals based here back in America.

The Taoiseach cast the bill as the latest step in what he described as a broader pattern of Irish action, citing moves ranging from recognition of a Palestinian state to intervention in South Africa’s genocide case before the International Court of Justice, along with support for UN resolutions.

In a statement after the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee said she welcomed Government approval of the text of the Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill.

The coalition wants to see the legislation passed before the Dáil rises for the summer recess in July.

The minister told colleagues that Ireland has consistently supported a peaceful settlement to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, Minister McEntee said that while the legislation “won’t change the decisions or the actions by the Israeli government”, every effort had to be made in pursuit of the wider goal of “a peaceful solution, a two-state solution”.

She also pressed for tougher action at European level: “… In tandem to this legislation I will continue to advocate for Europe to act collectively to respond to not just the increase in settler violence and expansion but the other actions that are taken in Lebanon, be it in Gaza or indeed the reintroduction of the death penalty.”

“If you look at goods or trade more generally in the occupied territories, if you were to ban that across the EU you’re obviously talking about a much bigger percentage, so we are very clear the actions that we are taking here it is in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Watch: Helen McEntee says she hopes the OTB legislation will be enacted by summer recess

Under the draft brought to Cabinet, importing goods produced in the settlements would become an offence under section 14 of the Customs Act 2015.

The Government says that approach is consistent with an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in 2024.

That opinion called on states to take action to prevent trade that helps sustain what it described as the illegal situation created by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Read more:Ireland calls for EU ban on trade with occupied territoriesLatest Middle East stories

But the decision to exclude services has prompted unease among coalition members on the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, who are seeking answers on why the Occupied Territories Bill stops short of a broader ban.

Last year, the committee recommended prohibiting trade in both goods and services.

Fianna Fáil TD and former ceann comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl said he had asked Helen McEntee to appear before the committee to explain why the Government was departing from that recommendation.

“If we marched up the hill on this, we need to see compelling evidence to now beat a retreat”, said he said.

Mr Ó Fearghaíl said he and other TDs understood that a goods-only ban did not reflect public opinion on the issue.

Fine Gael’s Brian Brennan said he was disappointed the legislation did not contain a ban on trade in services, saying his view had been shaped in part by a personal visit to the frontline in the Middle East and the destruction he saw there.

Mr Brennan said it would be understandable if the Government had received legal advice limiting what it could do, but argued that committee members should also be allowed to examine that advice.

“We need to see the devil in the detail,” he said.

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‘Moment for courage and principled leadership’

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) also urged the Government to ensure the bill covers both goods and services.

Chief Commissioner Liam Herrick said the International Court of Justice had “made clear that states must avoid economic or trade dealings that support or entrench Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

“That obligation does not distinguish between goods and services, and neither should this legislation.

“If Ireland is to give real meaning to its commitment to international law and human rights, the bill must include services as well as goods. This is a moment for courage and principled leadership.

Senator Frances Black, who first introduced the legislation, said the Government had opted for “a partial ban” on trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

Senator Black said the Government’s bill “omits the majority of Irish trade” in services such as tech, and “undermines the scope of the legislation”.

She said she would work with opposition parties to table amendments adding services when the bill comes before the Dáil in the coming weeks.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik welcomed the Government’s decision to move ahead with the Occupied Territories Bill, but said she was disappointed that trade in services had been left out.

The Dublin Bay South TD warned that, without that element, the Government’s plan risked being more symbolic than substantive or effective.

Speaking to reporters, Ms Bacik said she plans to raise the issue in the Dáil.

Government ‘speaking out of both sides of its mouth’ on Israel sanctions – Boyd Barrett

Meanwhile, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said services must be brought within the bill’s scope.

Speaking to reporters, he said the Government had made “a political call” to dilute the legislation by excluding services.

“Maybe we’re kind of coming to the actual nub of the issue now, that it is not a legal issue,” he said.

“This is a political call, and the political call is we can annoy the Trump administration a little bit by including goods, but not that next little bit by including services.

“I don’t accept that argument.”

Mr O’Gorman said the bill “must be passed, including services as well”, arguing that there was no legal barrier to doing so.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said the Government’s proposal would strip the original bill of much of its force by leaving out services, which he said account for 70% of trade with Israel.

He said the goods provisions might not even capture all goods.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Deputy Boyd Barrett was seeking an Israeli boycott. He said the Deputy was campaigning and attacking the Government rather than setting out what was actually being proposed.

He also said that thousands of workers in Ireland would be affected by a full Israeli boycott. Mr Martin defended the Government’s response, saying Ireland was one of the few EU states who had stood up on the issue.