Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-15
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Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

I want to come in on that point, but first, both the Tánaiste and Taoiseach were asked during Leaders Questions if they would pass the occupied territories Bill. The only legislation which existed at that time was Senator Frances Black's occupied territories Bill, which did include services. It is disingenuous to say that that is not what the electorate believed and understood from that contribution. Only Senator Black's Bill was in existence, so there was no Bill with anything else in it. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste were asked if they would pass the occupied territories Bill, which was Senator Black's Bill.
I mentioned in my first contribution that EU law and international law do not clash. The EU courts and EU case law make it incredibly clear that member states must be able to comply with international law first and foremost, as Senator Higgins outlined. The idea that international law would not take precedence over EU law and that we would have to follow an EU law which would be of a lower standing is ridiculous. It is also not what the experts told us in the committee. We do not even know that services would breach EU law. The only way to know that is if we test it by implementing it, as Spain has done and it has not faced infringement proceedings. These are the nuts and bolts of the situation. Spain has introduced a ban on advertising services and it has not faced infringement proceedings. It is actually testing the idea that there is indeed a public policy derogation for a ban on services. Of course there is, because there is no such thing as goods and services being distinct in international law. Trade is trade.
It is a red herring argument. As Senator Higgins said, it is a dangerous precedent to set to suggest that there is any distinction between goods and services, and also that EU law takes precedence over international law somehow, so that if we choose to follow international law, we will be facing some sort of infringement proceedings from the EU. How could we be a member state within a union that would not let us be in compliance with international law which we have also signed up to? That is just not how the treaties of the European Union work. It is not how the case law of the European Union works.

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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