'No more delays, no more distractions, no more betrayals’
People Before Profit are using their Private Members’ Business tomorrow, Wednesday for a joint motion from the left opposition parties and independents. The motion calls for the Government to urgently progress and amend its Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 to include a ban on trade in services as well as in goods, in line with the 2024 ruling of the ICJ and the unanimous position of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade.
It has now been reported that the Government will not oppose tomorrow's joint motion but has still not decided if services will be included in the ban on trade.
People Before Profit Deputy Paul Murphy said, “It is almost eight years since Senator Frances Black initiated the Occupied Territories Bill. It is over a year since Micheál Martin and Simon Harris, during the general election campaign, said they would implement the Occupied Territories Bill. It's been over three months since the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs committee, with its Government majority, unanimously called for the Occupied Territories Bill to be enacted with a ban on trade in services as well as goods. And yet not a single sanction has been imposed on Israel and it is now reported that the Government has still not decided if the Occupied Territories Bill will include a ban on services.
“This is completely unacceptable. There are no legal ambiguities and there are no implementation complications that prevent a ban on trade in services, as claimed by the Government. These claims are bogus. The reality is that the opposition to the ban is coming from the Trump administration and pro Israel lobbyists in the US, and the Government is bending to those threats and yet again betraying the people of Palestine”.
Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett said, “The Government’s decision not to oppose our motion that calls for the inclusion of a ban on trade in services, while at the same time briefing that they have not decided on whether they will include a ban on services is yet another cynical ploy, yet more weasel words. The dishonesty of the Government is never ending.
“The joint motion will be debated during People Before Profit’s private members business from 10am to noon tomorrow. During that debate we will be relentless in demanding that the government give a clear commitment tomorrow to implement a full ban on trade in goods and services with the illegal Israeli settlements before Christmas.
“We are at a crucial juncture. The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Campaign to Pass the Occupied Territories Bill have called a demonstration in support of the joint motion at 5.30pm tomorrow evening. We urge people to turn out in big numbers to pile pressure on the Government. No more delays, no more distractions, no more betrayals. We want that commitment to a full ban on trade in goods and services now.”