Opposition parties have been accused of “playing politics” with the Occupied Territories Bill aimed at banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin made the remarks in advance Tuesday’s proceedings in the Dáil, where the Opposition is expected to renew pressure on the Government to progress the Bill further before the election.
Opposition parties are likely to push for Dáil time for the Bill this week, offering to give up their Private Members’ time to progress the legislation, but this is set to be rejected by the Government.
Speaking to reporters before Cabinet, Mr Martin said it is “an extraordinary position that the Opposition are saying we should ram a Bill through that is, as currently written, unconstitutional and would fall at the first hurdle in terms of any legal challenge”.
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The Bill was first put forward by Independent Senator Frances Black in 2018 but successive Governments have stalled it for years.
It has recently been unblocked, with the Government saying that an advisory opinion delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during the summer provided a new context for the Bill to be re-examined.
In the non-binding opinion the ICJ ruled that that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are in breach of international law and that Israel’s occupation of those territories amounts to long-term annexation which has undermined the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
Israel has rejected this and is also strongly critical of the proposed Occupied Territories Bill in Ireland.
Mr Martin said he has had “constructive engagement” with Ms Black on her Bill and he said the matter will come up later on Tuesday at the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs.
He said: “I will outline the issues pertaining to the Bill, the need for significant amendments to strengthen the Bill, to obviously deal with the constitutional issues and the other issues as well.”
He added: “There’s quite a number of areas where the Bill requires amendment.
“There is no way it could be done within a week”.
He said the Government has “essentially” moved the Bill to the next stage in the legislative process by signing a so-called “money message” that will allow it to proceed.
He said the ICJ advisory opinion “does change the context and gives us a pathway to formulating legislation that would prohibit the importation of products from the occupied Territories”.
However, the Fianna Fáil leader cautioned: “It is not without risk and there could potentially be challenges to such legislation.
“But we as a Government, and I’m sure future governments, would be prepared to defend that legislation the whole way.”
He said that for this to happen “we do really have to ensure the Bill is solid and legally robust”.
Mr Martin continued: “We believe there will be challenges – the French have experienced challenges only in the last fortnight on similar legislation and lost a case so this is a challenging legal area.
“It’s not simple and the Opposition are doing a disservice to the seriousness of the issue by playing politics with it to the degree that they have been.”
Meanwhile, the Government has approved the appointment of Ireland’s first full Ambassador from Palestine, Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, giving effect to the decision in May for Ireland to recognise the Palestinian State.
Formal diplomatic relations between Ireland and the State of Palestine were established on September 29th of this year through an exchange of diplomatic notes.
Last month the government of the State of Palestine formally notified the Department of Foreign Affairs of its intention to change Palestine’s representation in Ireland to a resident embassy under the Vienna Convention. It had been represented in Ireland by the Palestinian Mission, headed by Dr Wahba Abdalmajid who carried out the role of “ambassador – Head of Mission”.
The upgrade in status of the Palestinian mission to that of a resident embassy means that the diplomatic mission will now enjoy the full range of privileges and immunities applicable under the Vienna Convention.
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