I am actually embarrassed for the Minister of State, to be frank. I remember in 2019 Fianna Fáil jumping up and down on this. It was Fianna Fáil that introduced the concept of this Bill and now here they are with a bit of an occupied territories Bill in a bit of the occupied territories. There is no moral backbone to this Government whatsoever, be it about trade, football or anything at all. Of our trade with the illegal settlements, 70% is in services according to Trócaire. Yet, due to pressure from US big business and capitalism, the Government has decided to leave that out of the Bill. The Bill is also focused on the West Bank goods specifically. We know it can be done because Spain and Slovenia have done it. They are two countries the Government says it is working with in Europe. So, there is no reason Ireland cannot do it except for the form of capitalism the Government has developed in this country for the last 50 to 60 years whereby foreign direct investment and multinationals rule the roost and we do not have our own independent policy. I commend Francis Black. Apart from relentlessly pursuing this and having the patience of an absolute saint, I commend her for dealing with all the ins and outs of this. There is no legal impediment despite the nonsense the Taoiseach keeps saying. Hundreds of lawyers have said that. Now the Attorney General has said it was a political decision, not a legal decision. Academics Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie have pointed out that this has been done primarily for Airbnb and insurance brokers who advertise in those areas, and that seems to be why we now have this situation. Of course, we are the second biggest trader with Israel primarily because of one company, Intel, which is a company that invested $25 billion in Israel last December. We are complicit up to our oxters in this genocide because of the economic model that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have slavishly developed. Even David McWilliams is saying how enmeshed the multinationals are with trade and that we are shamefully complicit, refusing to even ban sales to the IDF throughout 2024. The Government can take unilateral action. It was laughable listening to Deputy Currie reciting the mantra. She must be looking for a future ministership or something because Austria, Canada, France, New Zealand, Norway and the UK have taken action on these issues.

Sentiment score: -0.05