Passing the Occupied Territories Bill is 'very challenging', says Tánaiste
Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday. The International Court of Justice has called for countries to cease trade with Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank. Photo: AP/Bilal Hussein
Passing the Occupied Territories Bill before the upcoming general election will be “challenging”, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.
Mr Martin said that the legislation is still legally difficult to bring forward, despite the International Court of Justice ruling calling for countries to cease trade with Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank.
“It is still very challenging legally [to implement], and I have to be very clear about that, but we believe there’s a pathway forward on it,” Mr Martin said.
Mr Martin added that the bill requires amendments to be passed, saying these would be set out in a future government meeting but did not say when that might be.
The Tánaiste also said that he would be engaging with the author of the bill, Independent Senator Frances Black, around the amendments and how best to move it forward.
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Pressed if it would be possible to pass the bill before a general election and with just two weeks of Dáil time believed to be left, Mr Martin said that it would be difficult to do.
“That would be challenging, to be fair, because it would need substantive amendments,” he said. “But I think the significant point is government is not saying it’s against progressing this.
However, a number of opposition parties have criticised the government for not prioritising the bill ahead of a general election — now widely expected to be held on Friday, November 29.
In particular, they have called for the Dáil to abandon its Halloween recess next week and sit to ensure the bill gets ample time to be passed.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said that amendments to the bill should be brought forward as soon as possible, saying it cannot wait for the next government to pass the legislation.
Labour TD Duncan Smith said that the Government has successfully “wound the clock down” on the Occupied Territories Bill and they now plan to throw it to the incoming government to deal with.
“This is not good enough,” he said, saying that his party would give time over and facilitate the Dáil sitting next week to pass the laws.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the Government's failure to pass the law now was “extremely cynical”, saying they were going to use it as a “vague promise” in the upcoming election.
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