January 22, 2025: Pro-Palestine protestors outside Leinster House in Dublin, demanding that the new Government enact the Occupied Territories Bill.RollingNews.ie

Ireland's Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Harris TD, published the General Scheme of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill on Wednesday, June 25.

The General Scheme was presented and approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.

The scheme delivers on the commitment in the Programme for Government to progress legislation prohibiting import of goods from the settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory following the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of July 19, 2024.

Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says that the main purpose of the Bill is to prohibit the importation of goods into the State from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. Any such importation will thereby become an offence under the Customs Act 2015, and the prohibition created by the Bill will also then engage the customs powers under that Act, including those relating to search, seizure, and forfeiture.

The scheme proposes to use the Israeli settlement postal code system currently employed by the EU in differentiating Israeli goods from settlement goods in order to identify goods of settlement origin for the purposes of the new Bill.

The General Scheme - which can be read online here - will now be referred to the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade for Pre-Legislative Scrutiny.

"A significant step forward"

The Tánaiste said on Wednesday that the situation in Palestine "remains a matter of deep public concern" and reiterated that the Government will "use all levers at its disposal to address the horrifying situation on the ground and to contribute to long-term efforts to achieve a sustainable peace on the basis of the two-State solution."

He said in a statement: “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal and threaten the viability of the two-State solution. This is the longstanding position of the European Union and our international partners. Furthermore, this is the clear position under international law.

“I have been absolutely clear that we have yet to see an adequate response at EU level to the July 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, notably as regards trade with Israeli settlements.

“This is an issue that I will continue to press at EU level, and I reiterated my call for concrete proposals from the European Commission at the Foreign Affairs Council this week.

“However, pending an appropriate response at EU level, the Government committed to advancing our own legislation on the matter and we have made a significant step forward now.

“I am acutely aware that this legislation has been a particular focus of public interest and attention here at home and I look forward to hearing the views of Oireachtas colleagues and key stakeholders on the General Scheme.”

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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade noted on Wednesday that in its Advisory Opinion last summer, the ICJ identified a range of obligations arising for states, including a duty of distinguishing in dealings with Israel between its own territory and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Among other things, the ICJ considered that this encompassed an obligation:

  • to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the OPT (or any part of it) which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory;
  • to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT.

Last week, the Tánaiste joined colleagues from Belgium, Finland, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden in calling upon the European Commission to develop proposals for concrete measures to ensure compliance by the Union with the obligations identified by the ICJ in its Advisory Opinion, including to initiate discussions on how to effectively discontinue trade of goods and services with the illegal settlements.

The Tánaiste has consistently raised this issue at EU level, most recently at the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.

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Ireland "the first country in the European Union to take this step"

The PA reports that the Tánaiste further said on Wednesday: “Let’s not forget one thing before we get into the detail of the legislation, there isn’t another country in the European Union that you can visit today and ask a government minister about their Bill to ban trade and the detail of it, because they don’t have one.

“We’re the first country in the European Union to take this step. We’re the first country in the European Union say, yes, trade is a European competency, and it’ll be a hell of a lot better if Europe moves together, and a hell of a lot more impactful.

“But in the absence of Europe moving together, we’re going to go ahead with our own domestic legislation.

“I would really ask the opposition here not to do this lazy politicking of you know, opposition good, government bad. Everybody in this country is sickened to the pit of their stomach with the genocide they see in Gaza.

“They don’t care, the people of Ireland, who they vote for in an election in relation to this, they just know in their gut what is happening, particularly children in Gaza, is genocide is wrong, and everyone has to do everything they want."

An appeal to the Opposition

The Tánaiste addressed criticism from the opposition that only imports, and not services, are banned under the proposed legislation. 

“I have no policy difference, zero policy difference with the opposition in relation to the inclusion of services, but we do have a Constitution, we are members of the European Union, and I’m not in the business of putting together legislation that would fall at the first legal hurdle," he said.

“I presume everybody here wants to pass a law that is impactful, a law that is in compliance with the laws of our land.”

According to the PA, Harris said he does not believe the European Union has made itself compliant with the ICJ advisory opinion.

“We will do our own legislation, (I am) open to services, absolutely open to working constructively with the opposition, but also keep the pressure on at the European level,” he added.

“What I hope the opposition will be doing today, every opposition leader should be picking up the telephone, and they should be ringing their counterparts in European countries and saying, ‘hey, have you seen here in Ireland we’re bringing forward a domestic legislation, would you think about doing it yourself?

“Because so far, it’s pretty lonely out there. There’s not one other country in Europe that has published any legislation to ban trade, and I’d really appreciate the opposition’s help with their counterparts in the 26 other European states.”