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 move amendment No. 2: In page 4, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: “ “settlement service” means a service provided in whole or in part within a postal code or relevant occupied territory to which this Act applies;”. Regarding the comment the Minister made a few minutes ago when she said people would feel the Bill is not going far enough, that is an understatement because clearly, and by the Minister's own admission previously, we are not complying with the ICJ judgement or with international law. We are here because you would imagine we would be trying to comply with international law. We should be complying with it, not trying to. We have an opportunity to comply with international law. As this occupied territories Bill has been watered down, it is not going to comply with international law and the ICJ judgment. We are also here because of the brutal treatment of Palestinians by the Israel occupying force, IOF. One person who probably represents the horror that Palestinians are facing is Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a paediatric doctor, who was kidnapped by the Israeli authorities. He had no charges and he has been beaten and tortured daily. His legal team has stated that he believes, with good reason, that he is going to be killed. It seems to be only a matter of time before he will be murdered by the Israelis unless there is some sort of intervention by governments. I ask that the Irish Government intervenes and makes it known that the treatment of Dr. Abu Safiya is completely unacceptable. He is a man of huge humanity. He stayed when many would have left. He has huge humanity, which is something that is lacking from the Israeli Government and the IOF. Dr. Abu Safiya served the sick and the dying and he dedicated himself to his people, the Palestinian people. He was beaten in detention and there are serious fears for his life. For many Palestinians, their life means nothing to the Israelis. The Government needs to add its voice to the condemnation of the treatment of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. It is really important this happens. In relation to these amendments and amendment No. 2, the vast majority of trade between Ireland and the occupied Palestinian territories takes the form of services. To purposely exclude this trade from the Bill undermines the spirit and purpose of the Government's effort here. This is the fundamental issue with the legislation. It is disappointing that the Government chose to ignore the conclusion of the foreign affairs committee when it conducted pre-legislative scrutiny on this topic. Amendment No. 2 defines "settlement service" as "a service provided in whole or in part within a postal code or relevant occupied territory to which this Act applies". Likewise, the other amendments in this group relate to reinserting a ban on trade and services into this legislation, as was proposed in Senator Black's occupied territories Bill, and introducing a ban on the advertising of services originating in the occupied territories. From the Dáil debates on these points, I fail to see any compelling, legal, political or moral reason for services not to be included within the scope of this Bill. Services make up 70% of the trade with these illegally occupied territories and settlements. The Government needs to go beyond merely tokenistic gestures when it comes to sanctioning occupation and illegal settlements. If the purpose of this legislation is to have Ireland lead by example and build momentum on an international level by taking a strong stand against these illegal settlements, then diluting the Bill by excluding services can only cripple the leadership the Government claims to want to show. Ireland can be a leader when it comes to sanctioning these settlements but not when we back down at the slightest whiff of opposition. Likewise, if the purpose is to inflict a real economic penalty, then excluding the vast majority of economic activity from the sanctions makes this legislation practically useless. I fully accept the need for this legislation to be legally sound and able to withstand a challenge within the courts. I also fully accept that trade with the Israeli West Bank settlements is illegal under customary international law, including trade in both goods and services. The Minister for foreign affairs has also stated that she accepts this ruling, yet by choosing to exclude services from this legislation she puts us further away from compliance with this ruling. The Government has stated that in an ideal world it wants to be in compliance with the legal ruling but that it is not allowed to take action at a domestic level solely because the Attorney General advised it that this is the case. Unlike the Minister, I do not take the word of the Attorney General as gospel. Experts in EU law have told us that Article 62 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union enables Ireland to take this action and that there are notable examples of member states taking actions to restrict illegal external trade. Some of the most esteemed and recognised experts in European law say that Ireland is well within its rights to restrict trade and services within our borders, yet the Government chooses to put its head in the sand. To me this seems to be another example of the Attorney General's advice being used as a get out of jail card by Ministers looking to backtrack on their election promises. --- 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