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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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

I will give a very clear example of this. There is a question about parts and components. In the technology area and so forth, part of something may be produced in the occupied Palestinian territories and then that component goes into a final product. We are still contributing to the maintenance of the illegal situation if we allow components, whether 20%, 10%, 15%, 30% or 45%, to be purchased. We are contributing to the economic viability and profitability of businesses operating in illegally occupied territory by illegal settlers. It is doing that job. At a very blunt level, if we look again to goods, there is a concern with the originating thing. The last meaningful processing of a good can be where it is determined. If olives are taken from stolen land and then processed by being pickled or stuffed with almonds or pimentos down the line in Israeli territory, will that get captured or not? Maybe it will fall through, and that is the danger. Particularly with natural products like olives, there is a danger whereby processing may occur and that could fall outside this definition. That is the kind of concern. It is just a very practical concern.

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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