Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

They would have to look to a new area again. We have been clear on the legal piece. Mr. O'Brien has talked about implementation. Legally, it is clearly already the case that they should be examining these issues. When we look to that business advisory we referenced, Mr. O'Brien mentioned that it had not come up as an instance. Is it not the case that we need to legislate in this area if we want to see action? Is it not the case that, without actual concrete measures such as legislation, we will not see a change? We will continue to see illegal settlements and violations. The idea that the EU may act together is not realistic. Nine countries agree with us and we hope they will act with us but there is currently no prospect of EU-wide action, even with ten new children losing one or two limbs every single day. The EU chose yesterday not to take collective action but our legal imperative under international law is to take leading action nationally, something that is recognised by the EU. We need to act legally if we realistically want to see anything change in relation to these illegal settlements, given that advisory opinions have apparently made no difference to IBEC members, as Mr. O'Brien has described it, over the last period. Those opinions have been in place for a decade.