Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am very happy on behalf of the Green Party to support this Bill. I commend Deputy Niall Collins on introducing it here and Senator Black for initiating it in the Seanad, where it was co-signed by colleague, Senator Grace O'Sullivan. I spoke briefly at the centenary anniversary of the founding of Dáil Éireann and my central message was that we have to play our part in trying to create a world at peace. It behoves us to take a position on one of the critical issues of our time. What is happening in Palestine is simply wrong, it is not justified, it is not legal and it is not morally correct. We have consistently taken that position. We need to follow it up now and act to carry through what we state in words.

In my few short minutes I want to reflect on some of the comments the Minister made in his speech and to make counterarguments to those. He argued firstly that EU trade rules preclude us from doing anything and cited the example of our negotiations with the UK. As we will argue, that shows that if there is a no-deal hard border the application of market rules on our Border has to have a political context as well as just a narrow reading of the rules. Similarly, when it comes to trading with the settlements there is a political context that has to be taken into account. This Bill is not against the State of Israel or the Israeli people and what we are proposing is very specific and targeted.

On the Minister's supposition that in taking that political context into account we would be breaking EU law, I put it a slightly different way. We would certainly be testing it or we could be testing that law if a challenge was made. Sometimes it is the right thing to do to seek such a challenge, go to the European Court of Justice, make the case and then let that court decide. Sometimes laws are there to be changed and the dial to be moved. That can only be done by testing the law and that is what we would be doing here. The Minister also argued against supporting this Bill for fear that we might affect the centre of gravity of what is happening in the Middle East, Middle East policy and that we might lose our influence.

I am sorry. I see the centre of gravity in the global political response to the Palestinian issue as wrong. The centre of gravity is heading in the wrong direction as we see the US Government deciding to set up its embassy in Jerusalem. We know that is completely contrary to the direction in which we should be going. We need to act in our small way and sometimes, as small as we are as a State, we can shift the centre of gravity globally. That is what we should be attempting to do here. Turning to the Minister's contention that we might face difficulties with US companies and others in the application of these sanctions, I cite the example of where we take a directly opposite view, as I understand it. I am referring to the threats made by the US Government to levy sanctions against those companies or countries not following its rules on the Iran deal. That is a similar situation. We do not always have to follow what that US administration states. It is right and appropriate for us to set our own course.

I am deeply concerned that the Minister is intimating in his speech that the Government would use the money message mechanism to stop this Bill going on to Committee Stage. The Government has to be very careful with the use of that mechanism. It is being used on a whole range of legislation now to stymie further debate and the progress of that legislation. I believe the reason there is universal agreement, as I hear it, among the Opposition in support of this Bill is because it reflects the will of the Irish people. We have to be careful that we are not using statutory or Standing Order mechanisms to stymie that effort. I believe the Irish people want to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. This Bill is a completely appropriate, legitimate and, to my mind, legal approach. We should take it.

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