Mr. Gerry Liston:

I will pick up on Deputy Carthy's question which I understand to mean whether the occupied territories Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill taken together are sufficient to give effect to the obligation set out by the International Court of Justice. It is important to recall the language the court used in defining those obligations – first, to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with the settlements and, second, to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist the maintenance of illegal occupation. There was a report published in October of this year by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel which gave a legal interpretation of the ICJ advisory opinion and essentially it interprets these obligations to mean that states most cease all financial trade, investment and economic relations with Israel that maintain the unlawful occupation or contribute to maintaining it.

If Ireland is to comply with the obligation outlined by the ICJ, the Government and the Oireachtas will have to address investment links to the Israeli settlements in addition to trade in goods and services, as mentioned by Mr. O’Neill. We are aware of the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill and the important work that has been done on that but it is important to note that that Bill only addresses public investment in companies operating in the settlements, in particular investment by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. However, it is clear the obligations set out by the ICJ are concerned with the prevention of public and private investment. This is, as Mr. Liston touched on, entirely consistent with how Ireland and other EU member states have acted in relation to Russian occupied territory in Ukraine. For example, the relevant EU regulations which have been implemented into Irish law by statutory instrument prevent financial or other investment services linked to entities operating in the relevant territories such as Crimea. It is really important the committee considers this when it reconvenes to look at this Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.

To answer Deputy Gannon's question on whether we are satisfied, we are very happy with the opportunity to work with officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs on the amendments and to hear that the purpose of those amendments will be to give full effect to the obligations as set out by the International Court of Justice. However, as I said, we will look at trade, services and investments to ensure that the full gamut of obligations, as identified by the ICJ, are implemented by those amendments.