Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion. The time for enacting the occupied territories Bill was six years ago, when it was introduced to the Dáil by Deputy Niall Collins, fully supported at the time by his Fianna Fáil colleagues - a very stark contrast with the scene of desertion on the Fianna Fáil benches this evening. The vote in 2019 was a resounding success with 78 in favour to 45 against. It was democracy in action.

We often hear from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael about threats to our democracy from the far right or from Vladimir Putin, which are entirely legitimate concerns, yet they have in this instance facilitated a blatant interference in our democratic process by US and Israeli diplomats. Prior to the recent general election, the Government engaged in a bad-faith exercise, leading the public on with this Bill. The Tánaiste announced in August he would seek fresh legal advice on the Bill from the Attorney General following the International Court of Justice ruling on the illegality of the Israeli settlements. This advice took many weeks to materialise but at the end of October, he announced he was lifting the money message obstruction applied to the Bill. Soon after the election, however, as Taoiseach, he struck a very different tone, characterising the Bill as deeply flawed and suggesting that new legislation would need to be drawn up. It is very clear that the tactic is to go back to the very beginning of the process, drag it out for years, hope that the genocide in Gaza stops and that Palestine becomes much less of an electoral issue. It is utterly cynical and dishonest. We know from a range of law experts that this Bill is legally sound. What is stopping it is political cowardice in the face of diplomatic interference in our democracy.

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