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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Garret Ahearn (FG), Administrative Panel

I find it incredible that people say the programme for Government says this. I have it in my office. I can bring it down and show it to the Senators. At no point does it say that it would be Senator Black's Bill that would be introduced. I cannot remember how many times the Taoiseach and Tánaiste said at the time that the Bill was not workable and that it needed to be looked at and changed. That was said numerous times. The programme for Government said the Government would bring forward an occupied territories Bill on goods.
I find it incredible for people to talk about a lack of courage. I do not know whether the Senator has read, listened to or seen any of the comments by American politicians about Ireland because of what we are looking to introduce. Ireland has been called antisemitic and everything under the sun, which is totally unfair. In fairness, Senator McDowell has mentioned it a few times. Those are awful things to say about a State and its people.
It is incredible to suggest we lack courage, when, knowing the implications it could have on our relationship with America in a political sense and possibly an economic sense, we still have the will to do what it right. It is amazing the Senator talks about a lack of courage. I am just back from the UN in New York where I met representatives and we will talk about it in the committee the Senator and others in this House are on. They thanked us for our courage. They did not talk about lack of courage. They thanked us for our courage and for standing up. Everyone welcomed the ambassador here today. She has thanked us for our courage, not our lack of courage. It is an incredible thing to say.
The Senator asks that we stop patting ourselves on the back and not to talk about being the first Parliament to introduce it. That is significant. It is not just done by the Government. All of us in this House are introducing it. That is important. Rather than asking us to stop thanking ourselves, I ask the Senators to stop talking about Spain. When the Opposition does so, it is as though Spain has introduced everything entirely. If the Senators on that side of the House were on the opposition side of the Spanish Parliament, they would be accusing the Spanish Government of a watered down Bill and a lack of courage. Do not paint Spain as though it has done absolutely everything, because it has not.
The Minister has outlined strongly what she wants to do. The Opposition's problem is with how she does it but we are all in alignment in that we want to do the right thing. We want a full ban but how we get there is important. The Minister has been doing that for the past 18 months. She has been almost on her own doing it. She started with just one or two countries supporting her and now has 17 countries. The Opposition criticises her and says she is not doing enough when 17 of the 27 EU member states have come on board.
We have difficulties with some. Rather than putting their energy into criticising the Minister, I ask some of the Opposition Senators to put energy into influencing their sister parties in countries that do not support it and call them out for a lack of courage, as opposed to the Minister here. That is what they should be doing. This is a significant day for this House and for the people of Palestine. That is why the ambassador is here.
Senators can give their views. I have no issue with that. We did so during the committee meetings, but they should not throw out phrases like "watered down", "lack of courage" and "no vision". There is no minister in Europe who has pushed harder to try to be a voice for the people of Palestine. All I heard yesterday at the UN was that Ireland is the country that can be trusted to stand up for values and international law.

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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