Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are aspects of the occupied territories Bill that are clearly unconstitutional but they can be rectified and amended. It is clearly unconstitutional as it is currently drafted. There was a case just ten days ago concerning France v. the European Commission in respect of Western Sahara. There are very clear similarities between that and the West Bank. The ruling on that was not as favourable as we would have liked given what we want to do in ensuring we can prohibit trade to the Occupied Territories. That is the target and the objective.

I believe the ICJ gives us a pathway that we did not have because trade is still an exclusive competence of the European Commission; that is a fact. However, there is a public policy exemption that one could invoke. In our view, the ICJ perhaps gives us the potential to invoke that narrow pathway to doing what everyone in the House agrees on, namely, not having trade with the occupied territories. The ICJ ruling, while not binding on all states, is an authoritative statement of international humanitarian law. We cosponsored the resolution that led to the ICJ doing this. We made a written submission to it and the Attorney General made an oral submission to the ICJ on this issue, much of which was reflected in the subsequent judgment that the occupation was illegal and that states now had an obligation not to do anything that would support the occupation. It is very significant in charting and enabling us to navigate a way forward on this question.

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