A former government minister has claimed a “myth is being peddled by the Government” that it has to “start from scratch” with the Occupied Territories Bill, because it wants to “avoid taking action”.
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman, a member of the previous coalition, said the Government had “done a U-turn” on what it told the public during the election campaign about passing the legislation.
The Bill would ban trade, worth an estimated €1 million, with Israel on goods manufactured in the occupied territories.
Mr O’Gorman, who was part of the government during its deliberations on the legislation, said Bills were amended every single day. The Government should “drop the smokescreen and pass the Bill”.
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He was speaking during debate on the Sinn Féin Private Members’ motion on the Bill, first introduced by Independent Frances Black seven years ago.
The party’s foreign affairs spokesman Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said the Government could not walk away from the Occupied Territories Bill “now of all times when the very existence of the state of Palestine is being questioned”.
Calling for the legislation to be implemented, Mr Ó Laoghaire said the Bill mattered “because it’s about applying international law”. Referencing the proposal of US President Donald Trump to take over Gaza, he said it was “utterly unacceptable” as he called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to make a strong statement about this and to seek any equally strong one from the European Union.
[ Trump Gaza plan provokes international condemnation and dismissalOpens in new window ]
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald described President Trump’s assertion that a brutalised people should be displaced by those who wanted to create a “dystopian Riviera” demonstrated an utter disregard for human rights and international law.
Accusing the Government of adopting a cynical and shameful approach to the legislation, she said ordinary people in Ireland had stood unwaveringly and resolutely on the side of human rights. If the Government introduced a watered-down version it would be a “stunning” betrayal of the Palestinians.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris insisted the issues in the legislation were “not technical issues” as Sinn Féin portrayed. “There are major legal issues.”
Mr Harris added that legal advice had been shared, including that by the legal section of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
He said the Dáil was the only political chamber in the world where the Opposition asserted that the Irish Government was not on the side of the Palestinian people on human rights and international law.
Mr Harris said the Sinn Féin motion did not reflect the track record of “sustained, principled action by the Irish Government on this issue”.
The priority, he said, had to be to make sure the ceasefire is implemented and upheld and that the release of hostages continues.
Labour spokesman Duncan Smith said that “instead of ‘never again’ what we have is ‘again and again’. The West has repeatedly turned a blind eye to genocide and warm crimes if it’s in their economic and political interests. We cannot allow this country to follow that.”
A vote on the motion takes place next week.
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