Tánaiste not against Dáil working through summer to progress Occupied Territories Bill
On Tuesday, cabinet approved the drafting of the general scheme of the bill which will ban the importation of goods from the Occupied Territories. The government has come in for criticism as a result of the omission of services from the bill.
It is expected that the bill will be drafted and ready for committee stage scrutiny in June.
Social Democrats Senator Patricia Stephenson said the Dáil should sit during the summer recess, which will begin in July, to pass the Occupied Territories Bill.
'We need to see this bill enacted as a matter of urgency, even if this means recalling the Dáil next week and delaying summer recess,' Ms Stephenson said.
Asked if the Tánaiste would support the Dáil working through the summer to progress the bill, a spokesperson said Mr Harris would have 'no objection'.
'It's a matter of the committee to order its business as it sees fit,' the spokesperson said.
'The Tánaiste would have no objection to that if that's what the committee is to decide,' he added.
'The Tánaiste has said he wants to use the levers available to government and this is one of the levers.'
In the Dáil today, opposition TDs said the bill to be drafted should not be a watering down of the bill originally drafted by Senator Francis Black and that services should be included.
Social Democrats TD, Sinéad Gibney, said not including services would mean 'that a major component of trade would continue to flow even after this bill was enacted'.
However, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said there was no major trade because Ireland and the Occupied Territories.
'But that's not the point. The point is, is that it is a symbolic move. That's important in itself,' Mr martin said.
He added that Ireland had done other things to support Palestine, including work on the ICJ judgement and supporting UNWRA.
'We recognised the state of Palestine with Norway and with Spain. And as soon as we did that, all those who had called for it, sort of changed the tune a couple weeks later and said, 'Oh, too little, too late, not much significance'
'My point is, we have done very practical things. Probably the most impactful thing has been on the humanitarian side, with UNWRA, notwithstanding Israel's relentless hostility towards UNWRA,' he added.
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