Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in. I have been a strong supporter of Palestine for many years. I have done fundraising and attended many protests in Clare, etc. With regard to the occupied territories Bill, the labelling is the big one for me in terms of trying to think of something we can handle. Much of the stuff being asked for is at EU level. I am not sure, as a Senator on an enterprise, trade and employment committee, what I can do to help. I do not know if the witnesses were talking to the European affairs people. I would love if the West Bank, as opposed to the Israeli goods labelling, was enforced from that 2015 Act in which they were going to bring in labelling, but that has never happened. I know that is at an EU level but I wonder if there is something we could do at an Irish level with regard to saying unless it is labelled, how do we know? Many of us want to boycott goods coming in from the West Bank but because of lack of labelling, we cannot. I could take it up with our MEPs but I am not sure what we can do help. That is the first thing.

The second thing is with regard to the occupied territories Bill. Is that not being implemented because of EU law or fear of breaking EU law? What can we do around that if the Oireachtas and everybody is supporting it? I am not clear on that either. I will not pretend to be au fait with that. I know that labelling is a huge issue in terms of giving ordinary people a choice to show their support in that way by boycotting or purchasing.