Former ceann comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl and Independent Senator Frances Black have expressed confidence that the Government will include a ban on trade in services in the Occupied Territories Bill.
Speaking at the launch of the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the draft legislation Mr Ó Fearghaíl said the evidence presented to include services “was overwhelming”.
Chair of the committee John Lahart said the report was objective and “the amendments and recommendations were adopted unanimously”.
RM Block
The committee published its report on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill on Thursday afternoon.
It recommends Government legislation should be extended to include trade in services, which is one of the most contentious aspects of a ban, and one which could have significant repercussions for the State. As originally envisaged, the Bill would only target the minuscule trade in goods between illegally occupied territories and Ireland. The scope of a trade in services would be broader and much more logistically and diplomatically complex.
The committee report says “potential repercussions from the international community, in terms of both international relations and economically, are unknowable” and recommends Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris “undertakes efforts to establish and publish a range of likely scenarios”.
But Mr Ó Fearghaíl said he was confident the Government will not “reverse engines”. Given the change in the “geopolitical landscape” and that “more powerful countries with far more influence than we have, are now coming round to the Irish way of thinking”, he would be “quite confident that the Government will use its influence through Europe and the UN and internationally to build support for this initiative”.
Senator Black, who has championed the legislation, said she believes the Government “will deliver on this”.
She stressed that the “vast majority of companies here, American or otherwise, will not be impacted by this Bill” because “they’re not trading with the illegal settlements”.
The report also recommends expediting advice from the Attorney General on the inclusion of services. Mr Lahart said the absence of his advice was “like a shadow in the background of the committee’s work”.
He said the “landscape is different” from last week and the conversation among Jewish Americans “seems to be changing fundamentally”.
Ireland’s reputation has been “traduced internationally with smears and lies” and “those things need to be confronted”, he said.
It recommends undertaking proactive campaign involving diplomacy at EU, UN and US levels to inform the public and international observers of the relevant facts of the legislation “and to address any misinformation or misconceptions”.
The committee received more than 770 submissions during its pre-legislative scrutiny process. Aside from employers’ body IBEC, “virtually no submissions were received from the business or trade/international business or trade sectors”.
