There remains “considerable legal uncertainty” as to whether including services in the Occupied Territories Bill is permissible under European Union (EU) law, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has said.
Helen McEntee told the Dáil on Thursday that “legal clarity is needed on this point” and the Government is awaiting advice from the Attorney General.
Ms McEntee said the Government has always been clear that enacting the legislation in terms of services is “more complex”.
The Fine Gael TD also said she has not yet received the draft Bill, which is aimed at banning trade between Ireland and Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories but expects to “soon”.
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The Minister was responding to Labour TD Duncan Smith and Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire who asked for an update on the legislation.
Ms McEntee outlined that the general scheme of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill was approved by the Government in June with a number of hearings held by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade.
She said a “regulatory impact assessment” is currently being finalised by her department and will be published shortly.
“The next steps in the process, including the timeline for the progress of the Bill, are being considered by Government,” she said.
“The general scheme fulfils our commitment in the programme for Government to prohibit the import of goods from settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Ms McEntee said trade in services is “considerably more complex” than is the case with goods and there remains “considerable legal uncertainty” as to whether the inclusion of services is permissible under EU law.
“We must also take account of practical issues with regard to the implementation should services be included in the scope of the Bill,” she added. “It remains the Government’s preference that collective action would be taken at an EU-level and we continue to pursue this.”
The Minister also said it was no secret that their US counterparts do not support the legislation.
“It is no secret that many states have anti-boycott legislation and have been clear about how this would be enacted. I do not think we should ignore that,” she added.
Mr Smith said Ms McEntee’s predecessor, Simon Harris, had told the Dáil his expectation was that the legislation would be before the chamber by the end of November.
The Labour TD said this was “obviously not happening” and it felt like the proposed legislation was being “unduly delayed”.
Mr Ó Laoghaire said the Occupied Territories Bill still mattered and that the Israeli government was “continuing its actions, even now, against the backdrop of a ceasefire”.
“It is difficult to call it a ceasefire when hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli forces in the period. We have seen attacks on people by settlers,” he said.
“We have incursions and continued undermining of the two-state solution. It cannot be that we freeze here with the ceasefire, insofar as it is a ceasefire, and leave it at that. Clearly, we need to see pressure put on Israel to ensure that the two-state solution is made sustainable.”
