Occupied Territories Bill 'to be in place before July'

Helen McEntee will bring the bill prohibiting the importation of goods — but not services — from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory

A protester campaigning for the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill outside Leinster House earlier this year. File picture: Sam Boal/Collins 

The long-awaited Occupied Territories Bill will be brought to Cabinet today, with the Government planning to have it in place before the Dáil’s summer recess in July.

The bill, which will prohibit the import of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, will be brought by foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee after months of the Government being accused of slowing its progress.

However, the bill does not apply to services.

Government sources said that the legislation will “positively contribute towards Ireland’s compliance with its international legal obligations as identified in the 2024 International Court Justice advisory opinion, including that states should take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory”.

Once the bill is enacted and commenced, the importation of goods originating in the settlements into Ireland will be an offence under Section 14 of the Customs Act 2015.

Cabinet to consider suicide strategy  

Mental health minister Mary Butler and health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill will also seek Government approval for a 10-year whole-of-government strategy to reduce rates of suicide and self-harm in Ireland.

Ireland’s Strategy to Reduce Suicide and Self-harm: Connecting for Life 2026–2035 aims to build on progress over the past two decades, where suicide rates have fallen by 28% from a standardised rate of 12.9 per 100,000 in 2000 to 8.8 per 100,000 in 2023.

Ireland now has the 11th lowest suicide rate in the EU.

Autism assessment process

Also at Cabinet, Ms Carroll MacNeill will bring a memo alongside children’s minister Norma Foley that will see an autism assessment process for children and adults.

The autism protocol has been developed in consultation with autistic people, clinicians and HSE staff in disability, primary care and mental health services.

The autism protocol aims to provide, for the first time, a standardised autism assessment for children and adults right across the HSE and the agencies that it funds.

Youth consultation 

Media minister Patrick O’Donovan will inform his colleagues that he aims to bring together around 100 people aged 10–17 from all across Ireland to directly hear about children’s and young people’s experiences online, gathering their views on making the internet safer such as through social media activity and online protections.

Ireland's international scholarship schemes 

Further education minister James Lawless will bring a memo outlining a “major refocus and rebranding” of Ireland’s international scholarship programmes under a Government of Ireland scholarship programme.  

Financial literacy 

Tánaiste and finance minister Simon Harris will update Cabinet on the National Financial Literacy Strategy and Action Plan 2026-2027 that will set out more than 100 measures to deepen financial knowledge and capability across the country.

Paul Hosford, Deputy Political Editor