Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-15 ============================================================ Chris Andrews (SF), Labour Panel I welcome the Palestinian ambassador to the Chamber. It is an important day for Palestinians and for the ambassador, who has put in a huge amount of work advocating for Palestine over the years. I acknowledge the work and determination of Senator Frances Black on the occupied territories Bill over the better part of the last decade. I am pleased that the Opposition is unified in supporting and co-signing her amendments to this legislation. I also acknowledge Conor O'Neill from Christian Aid, Eoin Hamill from Trócaire, and Sadaka. I also acknowledge the work and commitment of the general public in campaigning for and supporting the occupied territories Bill and supporting people in Gaza and the West Bank. Without that pressure, we would not even have the watered down legislation the Government is proposing. Very few Bills from Independent Senators make as lasting an impact on the public as the occupied territories Bill. It is a testament to Senator Black's commitment to this cause and to the Irish people's strength of feeling when it comes to Palestine. This issue has been prominent since the Bill was introduced in 2018. Back then, Fianna Fáil was happy for the Bill to pass through the Seanad, only for it to be stopped by Fine Gael in the Dáil. In 2018, the occupied territories Bill was hugely important in the context of blatantly illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the clear attempt by the Israeli state and Netanyahu's Government to undermine any potential for an independent and viable state. Since then, the need for legislation imposing sanctions on these illegal settlements has become all the more urgent. Israel is doing everything in its power to wipe Palestine and Palestinians off the map. It has slaughtered tens of thousands in Gaza and displaced, starved and tortured hundreds of thousands more. In the West Bank, Israel is accelerating its settlement policy, with settlers acting with sickening impunity, killing and maiming any Palestinians they wish to without any fear of legal repercussions. It is pure state-sponsored terrorism on the part of Israel and the international community has done next to nothing to condemn or punish it for its breaches of international law. Ireland should be stepping up and showing leadership at an international level, taking real action to oppose Israel's crimes and showing that some countries are willing to stand up for what is right. Ireland has decided not to do that, however. The vast majority of Irish people want the Government to take action to hold Israel to account. There has been huge frustration over the many years during which the Government has sought to delay, if not outright oppose, the occupied territories Bill. We should remember that the Government parties gave a commitment before the last election to enact the occupied territories Bill, no doubt taking into account the level of support for Palestine among the electorate. It is enormously disappointing that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have backtracked on this commitment and are instead pursuing a critically weakened version of Senator Black's Bill. I will speak to this point later on but the choice to exclude services from this legislation is clearly its most serious flaw. This was discussed extensively in the Dáil and in the foreign affairs committee but I do not see a strong legal argument to exclude services. There is certainly no moral argument to do so. Instead, I see a political argument, designed to put the Government on the path of least resistance. We are all united in wanting to ensure that those involved in illegal occupation and illegal settlements in Palestine are not profiting in Ireland and that these settlements are not sustained and facilitated by illegal commercial practices. With this in mind, I hope the Minister will keep an open mind during today's debate to ensure this Bill is as effective as possible. Amendment No. 1, as has been referred to by previous speakers, seeks to address the potential flaw with the Bill in that Palestinians who are living in a postal code shared with illegal settlements could be denied the opportunity to trade. The postcode labelling is flawed. Clearly, the EU updates it and it is a moving process. There needs to be a double safety net to ensure that the occupied territories Bill that Europe is opposing is effective. Clearly, Palestinians who want to export their goods and services to Ireland should be facilitated in doing so. For this reason, I believe it is important to define "illegal settlement" to allow for more precision in the measures proposed by this Bill and to ensure that the legislation does not have an inverse effect than that intended by discouraging trade with Palestinians suffering from occupation and apartheid. --- 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/seanad/2026-07-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:16+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-15