{"id":16349,"date":"2026-02-26T16:50:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=16349"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:50:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:50:40","slug":"government-has-no-more-excuses-for-delay-of-occupied-territories-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-has-no-more-excuses-for-delay-of-occupied-territories-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Government has no more excuses for delay of Occupied Territories Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government has now received legal advice from the Attorney General and should pass the Occupied Territories Bill, and must now do so without delay, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.<\/p>\n

Senator Stephenson said:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the Business Committee today, Government Chief Whip Mary Butler said that updated advice from the Attorney General has been received on the Occupied Territories Bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has received this long-awaited judgement, she must pass the Bill at the nearest possible moment – just today, it was revealed that 900 bullets were fired at a medical convoy in Gaza last year which killed 15 Palestinian aid workers, a war crime that has been covered up since March 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no ceasefire in Gaza – an Israeli bombardment today killed two Palestinian civilians and injured several others, and it\u2019s rare that we hear news to the contrary every single day.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s advice is an update on information provided to the Department in December, the third instance the Attorney General\u2019s services had been requested for this piece of legislation – this time pertaining, in particular, to the inclusion of services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf all questions and clarifications that were sought have now been addressed, we must immediately be presented with the Attorney General\u2019s findings so that the Bill can be progressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government has done all in its power to not pass this Bill since 2020 – there are no more moral or legal excuses to delay its progression any further.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only pathway to peace is showing political will, support and solidarity in the face of such egregious breaches of international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is now making plans to execute Palestinian political prisoners – with this in mind, the government must progress the Occupied Territories Bill immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

February 26th, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government has now received legal advice from the Attorney General and should pass the Occupied Territories Bill, and must now do so without delay, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. Senator Stephenson said: \u201cAt the Business Committee today, Government Chief Whip Mary Butler said that updated advice from the Attorney General […]<\/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":[529,595,738,641,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaza","category-occupied-territories-bill","category-palestine","category-patricia-stephenson","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment has no more excuses for delay of Occupied Territories Bill - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/government-has-no-more-excuses-for-delay-of-occupied-territories-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government has no more excuses for delay of Occupied Territories Bill - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government has now received legal advice from the Attorney General and should pass the Occupied Territories Bill, and must now do so without delay, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. 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