Mr. Conor O'Neill:

Yes, absolutely, and far more severe consequences than would be faced under this Bill if enacted. Again, I will not mention any specific names but a case has been taken against a company under Irish war crimes legislation, the International Criminal Court Act and the Geneva Conventions Act, both of which give domestic effect to war crimes and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, and under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act.

The maximum sentence under the money laundering and terrorist financing Act is 15 years. The maximum sentence under the international criminal court Act is life but typically there is a maximum sentence of 30 years. The consequences are on a different register altogether than what we are concerned with here. Something to bear in mind is that enacting a regulatory ban on goods and services would actually be doing companies a favour because it would give them certainty and, assuming they comply, bring them out of the zone of risk of being accused of far more serious crimes, and not only companies but individual executives too.