Government committed to passing Occupied Territories Bill, Tánaiste Simon Harris says

Tánaiste Simon Harris: 'It's important that we do everything that we can to support the people of Palestine and to support peace.' Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

The Government remains committed to passing the Occupied Territories Bill, the Tánaiste has said.

It follows reports the bill would be shelved due to American reaction to the legislation, which is aimed at banning trade with the illegally occupied Palestinian territories. 

The bill is unlikely to take in services, the Taoiseach told the Dáil in recent weeks. However, speaking in Mullingar on Monday, Tánaiste Simon Harris said the trade aspect of the bill would go ahead.

"The programme for government commitment remains," Mr Harris said. 

"It's important that we do everything that we can to support the people of Palestine and to support peace. It's important that we recognise that. I think the priority for everybody in this country was to see an end to the killing, an end to the genocide." 

We now have a ceasefire, he added. "We're actively helping as a Government and as a people in getting aid into Gaza. I think Ireland could, in time, have an important role to help in trying to embed peace." 

I think it's very important, that everybody in this country, including those on the far left in this country, also realise that Hamas have obligations.

Hamas is a brutal, illegal terrorist organisation that must be disarmed as part of a peace process, he added. "So Ireland, the Irish Government, intends to proceed with the legislation as per the programme for government."

Minister for foreign affairs Helen McEntee is to meet with party leaders soon to discuss the passage of the bill.

Herzog Park controversy

Mr Harris also called on Dublin City Council to examine the controversy over a proposal to rename Herzog Park. Plans to remove the name from the park, due to be voted on by councillors on Monday, were dropped after a backlash from both Ireland and abroad.

While the withdrawal of the proposal was welcome, consideration must be given to how the controversy arose in the first place, he said. 

The proposal was "ill conceived", Mr Harris added. "I think it runs the risk of being performative, but it certainly did cause a lot of hurt and a lot of pain for our Jewish community." 

"I welcome the fact that it won't now proceed, but I don't believe it ever should have gotten to this point," he said, adding there were legitimate issues the City Council Executive needed to address in terms of how the proposal "ever got to this point". 

"From what I read last night, they didn't even follow their own procedures correctly."