O'Gorman says legal advice on Occupied Territories Bill did not mention issue with services
GREEN PARTY LEADER and former government minister Roderic O'Gorman has said that when the Attorney General delivered legal advice regarding the Occupied Territories Bill last year, there were no issues raised with the inclusion of services.
O'Gorman said the issues the government are now claiming exist in relation to services have only emerged since the last general election.
'It's a delaying tactic,' he said.
The Occupied Territories Bill, in its initial form, would ban trade in goods and services with illegal settlements anywhere in the world, but most notably in Palestine.
Passing the Bill, which has been in existence since 2018, was a promise made by the governing parties ahead of the general election last year.
But it has yet to be passed or even drafted because of what the government has described as 'constitutional issues' and complications related to the inclusion of services alongside goods.
Speaking on The Week in Politics on RTÉ today, O'Gorman said that when he was in government, legal advice provided by the Attorney General in July last year 'raised some issues' with the original draft of the bill, which he said were 'legitimate issues that can be addressed by amendment'.
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However, he added: 'There was no reference to an issue around services in his very detailed legal advice.
'This is a new issue that has been brought in subsequent to the general election, a general election where Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael made extensive commitments about passing the Occupied Territories Bill and, to my mind, it's a delaying tactic.
'The Government have said they will publish a draft before summer, they haven't promised to pass it.
'This is about kicking the can down the road,' he added, adding that the Bill could be passed by the summer 'if there was the will'.
The government has been asked repeatedly for the legal advice it has received in relation to services to be published in order to put the matter to bed.
Minister for State Hildegarde Naughton was asked if the government would be willing to publish the advice that has led to the delays in producing a new version of the bill.
'I have no issue with that,' Naughton said, but she pushed back on the suggestion that the government was delaying putting forward the bill.
'This is not a policy difference – I want to be very clear – around goods and services, this is about ensuring that we get that legislation right,' she said.
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