Richard Boyd Barrett demands passage of Occupied Territories Bill
Richard Boyd Barrett criticised the government for failing to pass the Occupied Territories Bill and accused it of double standards on sanctions for Palestine compared with Ukraine. He argued the bill — a ban on importation of goods from illegal settlements — is a minimal legal obligation and demanded it be enacted immediately.
Richard Boyd Barrett said the government has promised for nearly a decade to pass the occupied territories bill but has still not done so. He accused ministers of seeking to dilute the bill by excluding services and warned that the recent absence of the new minister could signal a lack of seriousness about the issue.
He noted the joint Oireachtas committee, including Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael members, recommended the bill be passed and that legal advice from the Attorney General and to the committee found no legal obstacle to including services and the ban on imports. He also recalled the government's own statement that the International Court of Justice advisory opinion is authoritative on international law and requires EU members to prevent imports from occupied territories.
Richard Boyd Barrett pointed to other European actions, noting Slovenia and other governments have imposed sanctions related to occupied territories while this government has not. He contrasted the instantaneous and repeated sanctions applied to Russia over Ukraine with the absence of sanctions after two years of intense violence in Gaza and long-term policies in the West Bank.
He described the Occupied Territories Bill as only a minimal sanction — a ban on goods from illegal settlements — and argued the state should go further with boycott, divestment and sanctions against a regime he characterised as capable of genocide. He urged the government to stop deferring to the White House and to honour its election promise by passing the bill and imposing sanctions.
Government promises and alleged backtracking
Richard Boyd Barrett said the government has promised for nearly a decade to pass the occupied territories bill but has still not done so. He accused ministers of seeking to dilute the bill by excluding services and warned that the recent absence of the new minister could signal a lack of seriousness about the issue.
Legal advice and committee recommendations
He noted the joint Oireachtas committee, including Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael members, recommended the bill be passed and that legal advice from the Attorney General and to the committee found no legal obstacle to including services and the ban on imports. He also recalled the government's own statement that the International Court of Justice advisory opinion is authoritative on international law and requires EU members to prevent imports from occupied territories.
International comparisons and examples
Richard Boyd Barrett pointed to other European actions, noting Slovenia and other governments have imposed sanctions related to occupied territories while this government has not. He contrasted the instantaneous and repeated sanctions applied to Russia over Ukraine with the absence of sanctions after two years of intense violence in Gaza and long-term policies in the West Bank.
Call for stronger measures beyond the bill
He described the Occupied Territories Bill as only a minimal sanction — a ban on goods from illegal settlements — and argued the state should go further with boycott, divestment and sanctions against a regime he characterised as capable of genocide. He urged the government to stop deferring to the White House and to honour its election promise by passing the bill and imposing sanctions.
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Transcript
Minister, this government speaks out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to the issue of Palestine. With one breath it states that it stands with the people of Palestine against the crimes that Israel inflicts on them, promises sanctions, and with the other breath reassures your friends in the White House that you are going to do nothing at all and the consequence of that is despite promises for 10 years or near enough 10 years on the occupied territories bill you still haven't passed it. It is bad enough that since 2018 you refused to pass this bill to impose sanctions on Israel for the illegal settlements in the West Bank but after two years of a genocidal massacre the fact that you still refuse to pass this bill having made solemn promises in the recent general election that you would pass it and are seeking to dilute it by leaving out services from the bill is an absolute disgrace. There is simply no justification for it. I hope the fact that the new minister not being here isn't some sign of a more disrespectful attitude towards this bill and taking the issue seriously. As our motion sets out there are simply no excuses left for this government. Politically you promised the Irish people you would pass the occupied territories bill with no mention of leaving services out or anything else. You made a promise you should keep that promise. The joint Oireachtas committee including Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael members have recommended that the occupied territories bill is passed. And you got clear legal advice from the Attorney General, from legal advice to the joint Oireachtas committee that there is no difficulty legally with including services in the occupied territories bill and the ban on the importation of goods from the occupied territories. The government itself has stated that the International Court of Justice advisory opinion is an authoritative statement on international law and that it requires all EU member states to prevent the importation of goods from occupied territories. But of course this government still refuses to do it, even when other governments in Europe have now done it. Slovenia is imposing sanctions and all now have passed bills imposing sanctions on Israel in terms of the occupied territories. But still this government that I don't know how many times I have heard come in here and claim that they are, if you like, the most pro-Palestinian voice in the EU still refuses to do it. And of course the double standards and contrast with what we heard last night in the statements on Ukraine is so blatant it is really outrageous. Rightly the government condemned Vladimir Putin for an imperialist invasion of Ukraine. What was the response of this government to that invasion? Instantaneous sanctions. And 19 rounds of sanctions imposed on Putin for what is and was a bloody, brutal and unjustifiable invasion in Ukraine. In the case of Palestine, two years of a genocidal massacre, 17 years of a criminal siege on Gaza, decades of ethnic cleansing, 700,000 illegal settlements on the West Bank. An apartheid system, denial of the right to return, ethnic cleansing on an ongoing basis. Not a single sanction. It's shameful, Minister. So stop dancing to the tune of Donald Trump and the White House, the enablers of the genocide in Palestine. Do what you promised the Irish people. Do what's right for the Palestinians, for humanity, if you have any respect for international law, for human rights. Pass the Occupied Territories Bill. Which, by the way, is only the minimal sanction that should be imposed on this regime. Let's be clear. All the Occupied Territories Bill does is impose a ban on the importation of goods from the illegal settlements. In our view, and I am absolutely clear about this, we should be going a lot further than that. It should be a complete boycott, divestment and sanctions from this criminal regime. A regime that is capable of genocide, has no place in the civilised world. This bill doesn't even address the issue of the right to return or the apartheid system, the criminal siege of Gaza. It is a minimal sanction in line with your international legal obligations. Do what you said you do, pass this bill and finally impose sanctions on this criminal regime.