It\u2019s utterly unconscionable that the government has reduced the Occupied Territories Bill to a toothless shadow of itself by removing the ban on services, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.<\/p>\n
Senator Stephenson said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s deeply disappointing but perhaps unsurprising that there is no mention of banning services in the government\u2019s limp iteration of the Occupied Territories Bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe T\u00e1naiste continues to cite vague legal reasons for omitting a services ban despite the plethora of legal advice we have received from legal experts who have said not only is its inclusion legal, it is our duty to do so in accordance with the ruling from the International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn open letter to the government, signed by more than 400 senior legal academics and lawyers, also stated there is no legal impediment to enacting the legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government has yet to provide a credible reason for omitting services from the Bill and its exclusion is a grave undermining of the will of the Irish people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vast majority of Ireland\u2019s trade with the occupied territories is in the form of services – legislating for goods alone is not a sufficient sanction of the Israeli government\u2019s barbaric actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to see this Bill enacted in the form put forward by Senator Francis Black as a matter of urgency, even if this means working through the summer to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are to proceed with this watered-down husk of legislation, we will fail to send a strong enough message to our European counterparts to commit to real action in ending Israel\u2019s crimes in Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
25th June, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s utterly unconscionable that the government has reduced the Occupied Territories Bill to a toothless shadow of itself by removing the ban on services, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. Senator Stephenson said: \u201cIt\u2019s deeply disappointing but perhaps unsurprising that there is no mention of banning services in the government\u2019s limp iteration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[529,595,641,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaza","category-occupied-territories-bill","category-patricia-stephenson","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n