The Occupied Territories Bill is virtually certain not to be passed before the general election following a statement from Tánaiste Micheál Martin that the Bill will be “reviewed and amendments will be prepared in order to bring it into line with the Constitution and EU law”.
His statement came as opposition parties again renewed calls for the legislation to be debated, amended and passed ahead of the election being called.
In the Dáil, Taoiseach Simon Harris said he did not want to have any kind of “ruaille buaille” (furore) over the timescale for the passage of the legislation because it is “complex”.
He said the Tánaiste had briefed the Cabinet on the Bill and was engaging with its sponsor Senator Frances Black, and he would ensure that opposition party leaders would be kept informed on developments. The most important thing was for people to be briefed, he said.
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In his statement, Mr Martin said “there are a range of complex policy and legal issues to be resolved”, a signal that there will be no early conclusion to the legislation.
The Bill bans trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. Mr Martin said the Bill would be progressed because of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion and advice from the Attorney General.
The ICJ found Israel’s occupation to be unlawful and stressed a duty on all states not to aid or assist that occupation and to distinguish in dealings with Israel between its own territory and the occupied territories.
Although international trade is a competence of the EU, the Tánaiste said the advisory opinion of the ICJ offered a new avenue to progress the legislation.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns and Independent TD Thomas Pringle called for the Bill to be debated, amended and passed before the election is called and said they would facilitate the debate.
When the issue and the war in Gaza and Lebanon was raised, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett claimed Ireland’s Central Bank is facilitating “the sale of war bonds by Israel”.
Mr Boyd Barrett called for a debate on the overflight of aircraft carrying munitions through Irish airspace and said that the weapons used to “slaughter 45 innocents” in Gaza on Tuesday morning had “almost certainly” come from the US and “very possibly” had flown through Irish airspace.
He also said the Central Bank was facilitating the sale of the Israeli war bonds, which “are explicitly being marketed as financing the slaughtering and butchering of innocent people in Gaza and in Lebanon”.
Describing it as a “disgrace”, he said it was “something the Government could act on”.
Earlier this month Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf was questioned at the Oireachtas finance committee about the sale of Israeli bonds through Central Bank-approved European prospectuses, to fund its war.
Israel previously sought approval for its European bond prospectuses in the UK but turned to the Central Bank for authorisations after Brexit.
Mr Makhlouf told the committee the Central Bank is bound by EU regulations to approve prospectuses that meet “the standards of completeness, comprehensibility and consistency”.
He pledged to “have a good look at this” but warned committee members: “I don’t promise to satisfy you.”
In the Dáil, Taoiseach Simon Harris said it was his understanding in relation to the issue of overflights “and the new issue you have raised” in relation to Israeli war bonds, that Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan is happy to have a debate and it could be held in the week the Dáil returns after the Halloween recess.
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