Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I would be deeply concerned about that. I am not saying anyone is in breach of anything but, basically, under the EU-Israel trade agreement as it stands, there is a specific distinction to be made between the occupied territories and Israel for all types of trade. It would be great to get a response to determine whether IBEC members are making the distinction, because it is required under EU law.

Mr. O’Brien has spoken about services measures being harder to implement. I wish to point to the 2014 invasion by Russia of Crimea and other now-occupied parts of Ukraine. At that stage, Ireland introduced a ban on trade in goods and services with the occupied territories in Crimea and slightly more broadly in the region. It prohibited Irish companies from exporting certain services to those territories. I assume that, in that context, IBEC members were able to comply with the law.