Mr. Conor O'Neill:

There is a separate discussion being had now at EU level regarding the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement, which governs the entire trade relationship. From my organisation's perspective - one which is shared very widely throughout the campaign, if not unanimously - we think that should be immediately suspended. The Irish Government's call to suspend it is correct. On the Dutch proposal that was voted on and accepted to review it some months ago, it was Ireland and Spain that put that on the table a year ago. This is completely appropriate considering what is happening in Gaza. The legislation is what it is. One of the reasons that this is focused on the settlements, is that we can have that debate about the broader trade relationship but the ICJ advisory opinion last year put the legal question of the settlements beyond any doubt whatsoever. Virtually the entire international community, the ICJ, the ICC, etc., have made clear that the settlements themselves are illegal and an obligation flows from that. This is why the Bill is focused as it is.

Regarding the United States, people ought to be more specific in some of those criticisms because what has happened is that some commentators have gestured broadly to the presence of US multinationals here and suggested that we are going to upset the apple cart. In actual fact, the vast majority of companies in Ireland, American or otherwise, have no involvement with the illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, OPT. This is for the same reason that they did not have an involvement with Russian entities in occupied Ukraine, because it is wrong and it is illegal. Also, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has published advice recommending that Irish businesses do not go near the settlements because of their illegality. Only a very small number of companies are involved. If we look at the specific companies that we talked about previously, but not on the record today, the proportion of their business that deals with the settlements is a fraction that would barely register on the balance sheet. I do not accept the idea that this will fundamentally change things.