FF and Greens urged not to forget Occupied Territories Bill in govt talks
Fianna Fáil and the Green Party are being urged not to allow the Occupied Territories Bill to fall through the cracks during the current government formation talks.
Senator Frances Black's bill would ban all trade with occupied territories in Palestine, and had been included in both parties' election manifestos, but did not appear in the draft programme for government.
The Fine Gael party opposes the bill, saying such bans need to be an EU-wide move. Betty Purcell from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign says that pressure from public backlash to occupation could nudge Fine Gael toward backing the bill.
"If the EU wishes to increase pressure, then that could be a 'let-out' for Fine Gael, that they may be prepared to allow progress on the bill, but up to now we have not seen any sign of that.
"Their policy seems to be about Europe, and we need to depend on the Irish population, and hopefully principled people within Fianna Fáil and The Greens".
This bill, passed in the Seanad in July of 2018, would prohibit trade between Ireland and the illegal settlements in the West Bank.
It passed by 25 votes to 20 with Independent senators and those in Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Labour in favour of it. It was opposed by government.
Should the bill be passed into law, it would make Ireland the first EU nation to enforce a boycott.
