Ms Marie Crawley:

I understand that Senator Frances Black, policy advisers and our legal adviser in Sadaka have developed a Bill that will be tabled in the coming weeks and is in full compliance with EU law. In fact, the settlement programme also violates our domestic legislation as the transfer of the civilian population on to occupied territory is criminalised under the Geneva Conventions Act 1962, the Geneva Conventions (Amendment) Act 1998 and the International Criminal Court Act 2006.

Not only is this possible and fully compliant with EU law, it also enables us to enact our own Irish legislation in accordance with those particular Acts. Obviously if the committee would like further evidence from the legal advisers who developed that legislation, we would be very happy to facilitate that.