The gutted version of the Occupied Territories Bill that the Government is ramming through the Oireachtas will not effectively sanction Israel, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.
Senator Stephenson said:
“It is unforgivable that the Government has gutted the Occupied Territories Bill and diluted its impact by excluding a ban on services.
“The Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee spent 18 hours scrutinising this legislation and heard from a range of legal experts who stated there were no issues precluding Ireland from including services in the OTB.
“In fact, the Committee was told that Ireland would not be compliant with international law if services were excised from this legislation. For that reason, it was the unanimous recommendation of that Committee that services be included in this Bill.
“How can the Government continue to call itself defenders of international law while knowingly forcing through changes to the OTB which ensure we will not be compliant?
“Services make up the majority of Ireland’s trade with the Occupied Territories, and if the Bill is to apply any pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s murderous regime, their inclusion is absolutely necessary.
“In 2014, the Government correctly banned the trade of goods and services with Crimea, so we know this can be done. This coalition has created a double standard by inventing reasons not to do the same in the case of the Occupied Territories.
“The level of inaction by Western governments – which now have masses of evidence that a genocide is being committed in broad daylight in Gaza – is sickening and despicable. The EU, which professes to care about human rights and international law, continues to sit back and do nothing.
“Our Government, which says it agrees a genocide is underway, doesn’t match that rhetoric with action. Instead, it is slow-walking a gutted Occupied Territories Bill through the Oireachtas.”
July 7th, 2026