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Occupied Territories Bill

Bill has already gained majority support in the Seanad and Dáil

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.
Sat Jul 06 2024 - 00:07

Sir, – Fintan Lane’s concern about Gaza losing our attention is timely, as is the possibility that Ireland may have to act alone (Letters, July 4th). The brutal killing and scattering are ongoing, but our Dáil will soon be in summer recess. The Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) remains on the order paper and needs to be revisited before then.

The OTB is a modest and patently peaceful legislative proposal. It penalises occupier goods from invaded lands. Once enacted here it is likely to be taken up by many other countries, which are not constrained by strategic or commercial links. People in powerful countries can have similar human empathy but be overridden by state interest. Ireland is free to make such initiatives for peace, as it did against South African apartheid in the 1980s.

The Bill has already gained majority support in the Seanad and Dáil. It had reached seven of the 10 stages for enactment when the 2020 election intervened. A large majority of the Dáil deputies were elected with a party or personal commitment to the OTB. Its sad omission from the current Programme for Government can now be rectified. – Yours, etc,

DAVID CLINCH,

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Dún Laoghaire,

Co Dublin.