Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)

That does not necessarily make it any clearer as to what exactly will be in this Bill. Ireland is not a major country in the grand scheme of these things. It is about using what levers are at our disposal. There have been a number of levers and recognition was important. This is important. Had we not had this debate over the past number of years about this, it would not have ended up being discussed in so many other jurisdictions, including in the options paper at European Commission level, so it is important. It is also important that the example being set by Ireland and potentially being followed by others, although others have now taken further initiatives, is strong. There is no legal reason not to include services. There is no moral reason. It is already the position of this Government that people should not trade with the occupied territories. What this Bill proposes to do is make that a criminal offence. I think this is right. It should be a criminal offence with regard to goods and it is not more morally acceptable for somebody to trade in services with the occupied territories, so it is the morally correct thing to do to ensure that there is a legal ban on that and that is a criminal offence. No reason has been produced as yet to say why it is any different in terms of services or why that is more legally challenging.

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