It has taken the Government eight years to finally bring this version of the occupied territories Bill before this House - eight years of delays, eight years of dithering and eight years of blocking the Opposition. During those eight years, Israel has gone on a genocidal rampage in Gaza, murdering 70,000 people: men, women, children and babies. It has established dozens of illegal settlements and moved tens of thousands more settlers onto Palestinian land in the West Bank. After all that, the Minister comes in here with a Bill that has been gutted. Some 70% of the trade between Ireland and Israel is in services, but this Bill allows that to continue because only physical goods will be subject to the ban. The International Court of Justice makes no distinction between goods and services. It says that states must prevent all trade and investment with illegal settlements. What, then, is the Bill before us? I will tell the Minister what it is. It is a half-arsed attempt to be seen to do something. It does not go far enough. We need to have some guts on this issue and include services in this Bill. If Spain can do it, so can we.

Sentiment score: -0.20