Tá an Bille seo lag. Is cinnte go bhfuil na fiacla bainte de. Níl sé maith go leor ar chor ar bith. Cuirfimid an Rialtas faoi an-bhrú chun é a fheabhsú mar níl sé maith go leor faoi mar atá. It has been eight years, four months and 12 days since Senator Frances Black and others initiated the occupied territories Bill. What is in this Bill and more should have been on the Statute Book two general elections ago. This should already be Irish law. The Minister talked about showing leadership. My experience and interpretation of the last number of years is that this Government has been dragged kicking and screaming every bit of the way. The initial response to the original occupied territories Bill, the one with substance rather than this watered down toothless affair, was to say that it was impossible and could not be done. Since that Bill was published, it has become a clarion call for all who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and who want to see justice, respect, human rights and self-determination for the Palestinian people. That is not because they suffer from a delusion that it would transform the situation, although it would have an impact in encouraging other states, but because of the statement that it makes, which is that the law has to apply. The law has to apply to Israel and in the occupied territories just as it should apply everywhere else. The experience we have had time and time again as regards Israel's actions against the Palestinian people, in Lebanon and against European and Irish nationals who were kidnapped on the high seas, is that Israel pays no attention to international law. That is why people who want to show solidarity with Palestine have taken this Bill to their hearts and believe it is a vitally important statement. At one stage, Fine Gael quite trenchantly opposed the Bill but it took on all the more urgency and ultimately the presence of a genocide, the greatest crime of all, involving some of the most appalling scenes and crimes we have seen in this century, dragged the Government parties to it in advance of the last general election. None of this can be understated. At least 70,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced. It has been said many times but it needs to be said again that behind each of those numbers is a person and a story. I think of the story of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl, just one year older than my own daughter. That story has resonated with people. Her family were waiting for assistance as they were trying to flee Gaza. There were all these warnings to flee. She was fleeing when she was left alone, waiting for assistance that never came, while her family were shot and killed. She was ultimately killed as well. There are many other stories and examples. Some 20,000 children have had their whole families wiped out. Whole generations have been wiped out and whole communities erased. The Bill therefore took on all the more urgency and, belatedly, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael went to the Irish people during the last general election campaign saying that they would pass an occupied territories Bill. The votes were counted, a government was formed and we were no longer looking at an occupied territories Bill. The considerations had suddenly changed and we were told that the Government might do something in relation to goods but it was not so sure about services. I am not sure that even this limited Bill would be anywhere were it not for the scenes we have seen in recent weeks. It is a poor reflection on the governments of Europe that it takes scenes of European citizens being abused for them to act in concert even in the imperfect way they are now talking about. The Government should put out what the Attorney General has said to it because that same Attorney General told it a number of years ago that pursuing Senator Black's Bill would be a political choice rather than a legal choice. As far as I am concerned, the arguments are thin. The Minister and other Ministers have talked before about the effectiveness of the Bill. It talks about making this an offence under section 14 of the Customs Act 2015. I agree there are circumstances where it will be complex to identify a breach of this provision in respect of services but that does not mean it should not be put on the Statute Book. We cannot capture every instance of assault. It is not possible to convict someone in every instance of assault or theft but that does not mean we do not legislate for it. It does not mean we do not provide for people to be prosecuted where proof exists. There is no reason the same attitude should not be adopted here. The issue of goods and services was discussed at length by the Oireachtas joint committee. It is true that there is a specific clause in the import regulation on goods and services that allows for public policy exemptions. Professor Panos Koutrakos told the committee that there is a public policy exemption to be found in Article 62 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, read in conjunction with Article 52. He went on to say: It would be very odd if EU law were interpreted to mean that the powers of member states to restrict trade in services with third countries was significantly more curtailed than the power to restrict trade in goods, capital and in trade in services. In our view such a conclusion would be problematic and it would be justified by neither a systematic nor a purposive interpretation of EU law. The reality is that this is a political decision. The public policy exemption exists, albeit in a different place. It is a crude analogy but it is like saying that we can act on goods because of a provision in primary legislation but not on services because we would have to rely on the Constitution. That is a crude comparison but it is effectively the same thing. There exists in the basic law the basis for a public policy exemption. In any event, the Spanish have done it. The Minister said that the Spanish legislation related to the advertisement of services. Ultimately, Spain is over the line. Infringement proceedings could be taken against Spain in the same way they could be taken against us were we to move on services. That has not happened. It would be ideal if Spain would go the full hog in terms of services but, having acted on the advertisement of services, it is over the line. Its legislation provides the same basis for infringement proceedings. That has not happened. The road is clear for us. The Minister has talked about leadership before. The reality is that Ireland is no longer leading. I pay tribute to Senator Frances Black and the other Senators who initiated this legislation. They showed leadership but the Government has fallen behind. Other countries are moving ahead. I am close to the end of my time but I will make two final points. The clear objective of the Israeli Government is to close off the possibility of a viable independent Palestinian state. The Minister has talked about European co-ordination and so on and so forth. If we can do that, we should, but the EU has clearly been found wanting. The situation on the ground is profoundly urgent. We need to do everything we can. That includes passing a Bill with teeth. The Government has watered it down and taken the teeth out of it. Two thirds of trade with the occupied territories is trade in services. That is no less immoral than trading in goods with those territories. It is not one bit less immoral or one bit less wrong.

Sentiment score: -0.07

There is in the treaty.

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We can do it through the treaty.

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That is the same thing, effectively.

Sentiment score: 0.44