Minister says Government 'trying desperately' to get services included in OTB

James Cox

A Minister of State has said the Government is still "trying desperately" to ensure services are included in the Occupied Territories Bill, but has to wait for legal advice from the Attorney General.

The Bill aims to ban trade with companies operating in illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

It comes after confusion in relation to the Bill earlier in the week when Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that “the feedback I’m getting, it’s not just implementable”.

This led to criticism from many opposition politicians, while Senator Frances Black, who first put the Bill forward, said she is "extremely concerned" trade in services will be excluded.

Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Minister of State Neale Richmond said the Government still hopes to include services in the Bill, but must make sure it is "legally binding" following advice from Attorney General Rossa Fanning.

"A lot of the focus on Israel's actions is our belief in defending the rule of law. Israel have broken international law continually. If we're producing legislation, it needs to be legally binding, not just statement legislation.

"The original iteration of the Occupied Territories Bill was presented by Senator Frances Black in 2018. It was only July 2024 where we found a window through the ICJ [International Court of Justice] to do something on it."

The Fine Gael TD added that he is still confident of passing "thorough legislation", adding that the inclusion of services must be "legally watertight".

"We believe we will have a piece of legislation that is thorough, that is fair, that achieves the aims. We're trying desperately to get services in... we think we have a formula to get services in, but not without difficulty and this will be challenged. The Tánaiste has given undertakings that we are trying everything but it has to be legally watertight. We cannot produce legislation that our Attorney General doesn't say is legal.

"We want to make sure first and foremost we don't have goods coming from the occupied Palestinian territories and we have assurances from our colleagues in Slovenia and Spain that if we get this right they will produce something similar."