Results 281-289 of 289 for speaker:Patricia Stephenson

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)

Patricia Stephenson: I wish to follow up on what the Chair said. Mr. O'Brien has talked about the services having additional complexities, both in terms of the political and implementation pieces. On that implementation aspect, I emphasise again there is already a legal obligation for companies under current law to distinguish between trade in goods and services between Israel and the occupied territories...

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)

Patricia Stephenson: We could perhaps follow up on that ourselves but it is available online. Mr. O'Brien also mentioned the number of employees linked to Ireland. Would he accept the vast majority of those companies and their employees have no involvement with the illegal settlements?

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)

Patricia Stephenson: Is that also services or just goods?

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)

Patricia Stephenson: Yes, but going back to that piece, they should be monitoring this. Mr. O'Brien said before that many of IBEC's members - and perhaps all of its members - are horrified by what is happening in Gaza and probably the West Bank as well. With that in mind, there was a report from the UN human rights expert which talked about business activities in illegal settlements and how they enable the...

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)

Patricia Stephenson: When I talk about this whole thing of trading with the illegal occupied territories - illegal under international humanitarian law - where there are violations, an apartheid state and genocide ongoing, would IBEC not say it is enabling those states through any type of trade?

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)

Patricia Stephenson: Would IBEC accept grave human rights violations are happening in those places?

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)

Patricia Stephenson: Would IBEC's members also sign up to or align with the UN business and human rights principles?

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)

Patricia Stephenson: I am out of time, thank you.

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)

Patricia Stephenson: I thank Mr. O’Brien. We heard from officials of the Department last week or maybe the week before – I do not remember – that under international law Ireland is legally obliged to end trade in both goods and services. They acknowledged that if we ended trade only in goods, we would be only partially compliant with the ICJ ruling. They said that, to be fully compliant,...