Proposed Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-05
============================================================

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (SF), Cork South-Central

That raises a few questions. On the implementation, I have never received a satisfactory answer to this. The practical effect of the implementation is very similar to the preparation that would have been required for the implementation of the similar ban on trade with the territories of Ukraine that are currently occupied by Russia. It is absolutely right that those sanctions were put in place, but the implementation would have been the same. Whether the vehicle is different is immaterial as to what preparations a company or the Government would have to make. That is completely immaterial and the same preparations for implementation would apply.
The Government has been talking about this for about eight years. The Spanish Government announced it would ban trade with the settlements in September 2025 and two weeks later that passed fully into law. By the end of the year, it was being implemented, including in relation to services. If the Spanish Government can do it, and given that it is similarly subject to EU law, why can the Irish Government not put in place a similar ban?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-05