Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe has said that members of the opposition have “not fully thought out” the economic effects of a total boycott on Israel.
The Occupied Territories Bill was discussed in the Dáil last week, albeit with a major element stripped out – the government have shown willingness to pass a version of the long-delayed legislation, but has opted to remove services from their version of the legislation.
McAuliffe, TD for Dublin North-West, said “people in this House who voted for a total boycott of Israel have not thought out fully the implications of that for Irish people and the jobs of Irish people.”
“That is not in any way to say that just because somebody works for a company that might have a small office in a part of the Israeli state, somehow that person working in Leixlip is complicit with genocide; that is an abhorrent thing to say.”
He noted, “many people who are working for multinational companies condemn what is happening in Gaza. Simply because they work for a certain company should not mean they should be punished. Who should be punished is the Netanyahu government and the Israeli state committing this genocide in Gaza.”
McAuliffe said that the OTB being passed in any form was nominally a good thing, as Ireland would become the first country in Europe to take any kind of financial action against Israel.
“With this legislation, Ireland joins the first group of EU states to prohibit the importation of goods originating in those illegal settlements. I hope we will be joined by many others,” he said.
Discussing the government decision to exclude services from the new draft of the OTB, McAuliffe noted there are significant legal complications involved.
He said that Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee sought advice from the Attorney General on whether including services in the legislation would be lawful.
“It seems that for goods, the EU provides a public policy exemption that lets a member state act for goods,” he explained.
“However, no equivalent exemption exists regarding services. We have to examine the practicality and legality of implementing that. There are more than 120 subcategories of services, and that makes it incredibly complex and difficult to implement.”
“People have referenced Spain, and I note Spain has not banned trade in services, but the advertisement of those services, and I would support the government including such an amendment in the legislation,” he said.
Fine Gael TD Emer Currie said, “the bill will not on its own end the unimaginable suffering people have experienced and are experiencing in Gaza.”
“However, it sends out a clear message to Israel and the wider international community that there are economic, political and reputational consequences for the continued expansion of illegal settlements, the occupation of Palestinian territories, genocidal action and grave violations of international law.
Currie said that the legislation “will continue to build on a growing momentum for collective, concrete and meaningful action.”
“It reflects Ireland’s commitment to ensuring that human rights and international law are respected, upheld and protected. Several member states are moving on this, and we are seeing that momentum. Ireland must do everything it can to support the Palestinian people, to support peace, tackle injustice and work on a humanitarian level,” the Dublin West TD said.