6 days ago
Committee urges Govt to include services in OTB
A cross-party Oireachtas foreign affairs committee report on the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) "strongly recommends" services as well as goods should be included in any Government legislation.
RTÉ News understands the committee agreed to make the key recommendation in a private meeting at Leinster House today, which is likely to continue until Friday afternoon.
The committee has been tasked in recent weeks with drawing up a pre-legislative scrutiny report on the long-awaited Occupied Territories Bill, which will include a series of non-binding recommendations that will subsequently be considered by Government.
The question of whether the bill should be limited to goods from what it describes as the Occupied Territories or be extended to services as well has been a key subject of debate in recent weeks due to the potential economic impact such a move could cause.
However, in a recommendation which will be included in the committee's report and was agreed by all parties, the committee has said:
"The committee strongly recommends progressing the bill and the prohibition of imports from the Palestinian Occupied Territories should be extended to include trade in services, in line with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice and the resolution which Ireland co-sponsored at the United Nations general assembly."
The move is likely to place further pressure on Government to include services as well as goods in the Occupied Territories Bill, despite international warnings from the US administration last week over the potential economic consequences were Ireland to do so.
In a statement to RTÉ News, Labour TD Duncan Smith said:
"This is a welcome outcome from the committee and one I didn't think would happen when our work began as I feared Government members wouldn't support opposition calls to include services.
"The fact we have this agreed recommendation with no dissent is a testament to the compelling evidence given by multiple witnesses as to why services must be included with goods. They cannot be separated.
"The sends a strong message to the Minister for Foreign Affairs that he needs to expand the scope of this bill to include services. which is not only the wishes of this committee but, we believe, the popular wishes of the Irish people."
Sinn Féin TD Donnacha Ó Laoghaire also said:
"Including services is an important statement by the foreign affairs committee. The situation in Gaza is disgraceful and we need ot move decisively and quickly."
The committee meeting is continuing this afternoon, with more than 60 other amendments not related to this key recommendation also being considered.
On RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Wednesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin again confirmed the Occupied Territories Bill is likely to go before the Dáil and Seanad in early autumn.
