At the outset, I commend the work of Senator Frances Black on this Bill. She has led from the front on it for many years. I acknowledge in this House the Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley and Collins, who worked with Senator Black to introduce this legislation to the House, albeit in a different form than the Minister has presented today. On 19 July 2024, the International Court of Justice delivered an historic advisory opinion. Its findings were unequivocal. The court held that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end as rapidly as possible, and Israel must cease all new settlement activity, evacuate the settlers, and make reparations for the damage caused. That is the considered judgement of the world's highest court. The court told every state it must not aid or assist in maintaining that unlawful situation. This Bill is part of Ireland’s response to that judgement and to the dire conditions in which the people of Palestine live today. Ireland has, of course, recognised the State of Palestine and intervened in the South African genocide case at the ICJ. We have funded UNWRA when others moved to defund and dismantle it and stood at the United Nations and the European Council, often almost alone among our partners, and refused to soften the truth of what was being done to tens of thousands of people in Palestine, that is, famine in our time, and we are a people who know what famine is, and the destruction of homes and hospitals. With this legislation, Ireland joins the first group of EU states to prohibit the importation of goods originating in those illegal settlements. I hope we will be joined by many others. Once enacted, such importation becomes an offence under the Customs Act. The Bill uses the postal codes already identified under the EU-Israel technical arrangement, so it is precise, workable, and built to withstand challenge. There are many who have discussed the issue of services, and as somebody who would wish to see services included in this Bill, I have listened carefully to what the Minister has informed us of. She has sought advice from the Attorney General. It seems that for goods, the EU provides a public policy exemption that lets a member state act for goods. However, no equivalent exemption exists in regards to services. We have to examine the practicality and legality of implementing that. There are more than 120 subcategories of services and that makes it incredibly complex and difficult to implement. People have referenced Spain and I note Spain has not banned trade in services but the advertisement of those services, and I would support the Government including such an amendment in the legislation. I note also that there are people in this House who have voted for a full boycott of the entire Israeli state. We have to be conscious of what a sanctions regime should do. Government must act in a way that holds in law and does not wound our people more than those we wish to hold to account. All sanctions regimes have, as their principle, the core that we hold the sanctioned state to account more than the countries which implement the sanctions. That is the case with the Russian sanctions. They apply to certain services, companies and individuals. People in this House who voted for a total boycott of Israel have not thought out fully the implications of that for Irish people and the jobs of Irish people. That is not in any way to say that just because somebody works for a company that might have a small office in a part of the Israeli state, somehow that person working in Leixlip is complicit with genocide. That is an abhorrent thing to say. Many people who are working for multinational companies condemn what is happening in Gaza. Simply because they work for a certain company should not mean they should be punished. Who should be punished is the Netanyahu government and the Israeli state committing this genocide in Gaza.

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