Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I said, my understanding of the laws, and it seems to be an understanding shared by the Taoiseach and the Minister of State, is that they are clear that this is not legislation in respect of a boycott of Israel. This is legislation in respect of ending trade with illegal settlements in illegally occupied territories.

I will come back to the question of the certifications Mr. O'Brien mentioned, regarding the signing of these certification forms and so forth. He acknowledged that our Governments may have very different views and policies in a lot of areas. Is Mr. O'Brien aware that the US Embassy and the US Department of State have also asked for companies and, indeed, all suppliers and service providers to the US Government, regardless of their nationality or the countries in which they are operating, to say that they will not run diversity, equality and inclusion programmes and give certification in respect of that?

Mr. O'Brien suggested a certification measure may affect things such as procurement. I presume IBEC would not support the idea that its members should not engage in diversity, equality and inclusion policies of any kind simply because of this overreach trying to affect how companies would operate here.