Results 1-20 of 6,465 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Trade Relations (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I return to the issue of vulnerabilities. It may be the case that the issue of new tariffs has come onto the table since the election of President Trump for the second time. It has returned to the agenda. Sinn Féin and others in the Opposition have made the case for many years that, even aside from tariffs, Ireland is vulnerable to a change in the economic climate because of the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Trade Relations (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yet again this week, we have seen statements by US President Donald Trump in relation to bruising and punishing tariffs on European economies and, by extension, Ireland. The debate around tariffs has gone back and forth. Deadlines have been postponed, not met. However, we would be foolish to dismiss the risks to Ireland. For workers in the sectors most at risk, it is not an exaggeration...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank Mr. O'Brien for his attendance. It is appreciated. I wish IBEC the best with its pre-budget launch, which I think is tomorrow. I am afraid I will not be able to attend as I have another commitment. I have a series of questions, most of which are brief, so I ask Mr. O'Brien to be as concise as he can in answering. Does IBEC accept that trade with the occupied territories is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I understood that the EU-Israel trade agreement distinguishes in terms of services. That is not IBEC's position.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes, except that in the midst of some the discussion today, there is a distinction to be made. This legislation foresees, if someone is engaged in such trade, that they would potentially face sanction. It is not necessarily the same as tax law or such matters. However, to some extent there is a conflation between whether something can be legislated for and how difficult it will be to prove...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Mr. O'Brien said earlier that he thinks there is misinformation. Does he believe the nature of this Bill has been mischaracterised abroad?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Does Mr. O'Brien think there is a failure to recognise the distinction made in the Bill between the State of Israel and the occupied territories? Has that been lost?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Some of the commentary has been that the Bill is antisemitic. Does Mr. O'Brien believe it is?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I agree. I thank Mr. O'Brien. Does he also agree that the Irish Government over many decades has had significant differences with the US Government on many areas of foreign policy, whether it was Iraq, Western Sahara, the Middle East or a whole range of other areas. Can Mr. O'Brien recall any instance where that had any impact on the willingness of US companies to invest in Ireland?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I do not want to dismiss that entirely, because it is some of the soft elements in trade but, on a related matter as regards legal instruments and hard policy, trade between the US and Ireland is not simply between the US and Ireland. It is between the US and the EU. Is that not fair to say? It is not possible, or there is no mechanism, for the US Government to levy tariffs against Ireland...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I get that and I do not dismiss it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I hear that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I hear that and I do not dismiss it at all, but I am asking a specific question. Is it the case that tariffs cannot be levied against Ireland alone, only against the EU?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank Mr. O'Brien. I do not dismiss the other points because I appreciate there is totality in the politics, relationships and so on. I am not dismissing that. I understand that is important. I do not agree with all of Mr. O’Brien’s statements but they are sober, clear-sighted and rationally presented, and I appreciate the tone he has brought to this debate. The Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Mr. O’Brien would accept that the guidance currently from the Department of foreign affairs is that there is considerable risk in making such an investment as it is not recognised as part of the State of Israel.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I will cover ground that has already been touched upon but I am still curious about it. The EU and countries across the EU announced sanctions against Russia for what happened in Crimea in 2014. I understand that is quite different to what is considered here because it was a cross-European approach. I am not talking about EU competency, but about the practical bit, which Mr. O'Brien is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I accept the world is different in several respects. The primary difference may be that the political considerations or the sensitivity of this issue are a bit different but it seems to be a few things. The world of work has changed, but I would say that is only to a degree. Most of the things that are possible now were possible then. They were just happening less frequently and at a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: If it is at all possible - it may not be - will Mr. O'Brien follow up with the committee in writing with a brief outline of what IBEC recommended to its member organisations at that stage in terms of what happened with those sanctions? If it is possible, that would be appreciated.

Endometriosis Care in Ireland: Motion [Private Members] (15 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: -----but I am a bit distracted, to be totally honest. I want to address the Minister because I am appealing to her. The attitudes that are being encountered are so dismissive. It is not as if members of the medical profession, or a large section of the profession, were unaware or that this is a new disease or condition. It was not as if there was no knowledge of the best kind of...

Endometriosis Care in Ireland: Motion [Private Members] (15 Jul 2025)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I, too, was at the same meeting as Deputy Gould. I have been going to political meetings since I was 17 or 18 years of age and I have never left a meeting more shook than I was by that meeting. Some of the stories would make your blood boil and some would break your heart, to hear the accounts of the pain and on top of the pain and suffering, the grief in some instances that some of the...