Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

I thank colleagues who have contributed to the debate. We are witnessing in plain sight the persistent and ongoing human rights abuses that Palestinian people endure under occupation. We are witnessing an appalling and worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. We are witnessing the deteriorating situation in the West Bank with massive expansion of settlements alongside rampant and escalating settler violence, all of which leads us to conclude that the actions of the current Israeli Government contravene international law. On the question of how best to respond, while we have moved ahead on prohibiting settlement trade in goods at a national level, our preference, which we have said this time and time again, is to work at an EU level and that collective action be taken at an EU level. This will have a much greater impact. Those who are quick to criticise the Government's approach are slow to take account of the broader realities, including the debates happening at the EU level. Ireland has led from the front on this issue. We were the first EU country to announce our intention to prohibit the importation of settlement goods. Others have followed our lead, not the other way around. Other member states have come to agree with us. In the past week, Slovenia has had a change of government, and it has completely changed its policy on Israel. It has had a complete reset in relations. We have to deal with the realities of all of this around the European table.
Ireland has repeatedly called for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement or, at a minimum, to suspend the trade elements of the agreement, as previously proposed by President Ursula von der Leyen. In advance of the Foreign Affairs Council next week, the Minister has asked the Commission to bring forward a proposal to prohibit EU trade with Israeli settlements on the basis of the EU's Common Commercial Policy. A number of member states supported this call in the Commission and were equally clear that proposals sanction certain Israeli Ministers cannot be a substitute or an alternative for an EU ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements. The Taoiseach also wrote the President of the European Council, António Costa, on 20 May reiterating Ireland's position on the EU's trade with Israel and requested an urgent discussion of these issues among EU leaders at the meeting of the European Council next week. I will ask for this as well at the General Affairs Council that I will attend next week.
Member states reached political agreement last month to sanction Israeli extremist settlers and entities and those who enable them. That was hard fought for around the table. Every member state has a veto on that issue. The political reality is that we have to deal with that around the table. We hold the veto dear every time we have a referendum. The previous Hungarian Government held up that particular provision for some time. I welcome that the position has changed and moved on. The politics changes in both directions. Actions taken at EU level in response to the appalling situation in Gaza have a much greater impact than those taken at national level.
We will always stand up for human rights and international law within the EU and for accountability when it comes to breaches of international law.
The question of services has been the main issue in this debate. This Government and any government has a responsibility to ensure that any legislation is legally robust, capable of being implemented and can withstand legal challenge. In the case of goods, a public policy exception exists in the EU regulation which controls the import of goods. This exception allows EU member states to adopt prohibitions on the import of goods for public policy reasons. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no equivalent or similar broad public policy exception relating to external trade in services.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-10