Occupied Territories Bill unlikely to be passed before election, O'Gorman says

22 Oct 2024, 08:03 by Christina Finn, https://www.thejournal.ie/author/christina-finn/ · TheJournal.ie

LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago

TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN will update Cabinet on the Government’s approach to the Occupied Territories Bill today.

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said this morning that the necessary changes to the bill are unlikely to be complete before the Dáil dissolves sometime before the end of the year.

“I think there’s an understanding, and even Frances Black, I think, had an understanding that it was probably unlikely to go through all stages,” O’Gorman said, referring to Senator Black, who originally introduced the bill in 2018.

“But I think it is important that we are looking to advance this piece of legislation, and particularly to at least create the space that can be discussed at the Oireachtas committee,” O’Gorman said.

O’Gorman said that Senator Black and pro-Palestine organisations like Sadaka “want to see momentum”.

The Táinaste’s memo today will outline the pathway to enable it to enact the Occupied Territories Bill but yesterday Martin also warned that the legislation may not be passed during this Dáil term.

“It will take some time to legislate for this in my view because the existing bill is unconstitutional at the moment in terms of its current provisions and there are also issues around other aspects of the bill that would need to be substantially amended,” Martin said.

Updated Attorney General advice on the Bill was sought following an advisory ruling to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July that said Israeli settlements in occupied areas of Palestine breach international law.

The ICJ concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful – and that there is a duty on all States to prevent trade or any other assistance to the settlements.

Following a briefing by the Attorney General to leaders last week, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman and Taoiseach Simon Harris said they believed that legislation to deal with trade from occupied territories should be passed by TDs in this Government’s life time.

The Attorney General’s advice on the best approach to avoid a breach of EU law or the Irish constitution will be considered as part of the review, and a memo brought back to Government on the next steps.

Martin said he believed the context has changed since Senator Frances Black first introduced the bill in 2018.

“I think the context has changed because of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion and I think any legislation would situate itself in the context of the ICJ advisory opinion – now the attorney general has provided comprehensive advice on this,” he said.

“I’ve been talking to Frances [Black] about this but it’s a difficult challenging path and there’s no point in pretending that it isn’t,” said Martin.