Results 1,241-1,260 of 1,262 for speaker:Garret Ahearn

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Why has there not been one yet?

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Of course a legal challenge is possible but why has there been none, at the moment anyway?

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Why would there be, if this measure were introduced?

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Irrespective of this legislation?

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: We have concluded the second round. Senator Higgins has 20 seconds.

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Perfect, but most of the time he was cut off through the asking of questions. That was the problem.

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: The Senator has 20 seconds to ask a question and then we will conclude.

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the professor. I thank the witnesses for appearing before the committee today and for their useful contributions. Again, I apologise for the unexpected number of votes. This happens once in a while and we certainly did not expect it at this time. We will adjourn until Tuesday, 15 July 2025, when we will continue our pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill.

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: We will do three minutes each between the five of us and conclude.

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: We can give him 30 seconds.

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) (9 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Since you quoted it, what do you actually mean by window-dressing?

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: As it is 1.15 p.m., according to the order of the House, progress must be reported.

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) (15 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: When Mr. Meehan spoke about a two-state solution, I was thinking that the first thing to be done is to recognise there are two states. That is one element in which Ireland has played a key role. The point was made to Deputy Ó Laoghaire in the previous session that the Bill is only symbolic. In fact, that strengthens the case to do it, as outlined by Ms Crawley. There is a number of...

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)

Garret Ahearn: I thank Mr. O'Brien for coming this evening. It is important to clarify that we have had a lot of committee meetings on legal issues and civil society groups coming in from a humanitarian perspective. The reason Mr. O'Brien is here is to give us a broad overview of what impact this could have on businesses. It is nothing to do with personal views or anything like that. It is just so we as...

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)

Garret Ahearn: Is that response similar to the response we have seen politically from the United States? Is that happening within business?

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)

Garret Ahearn: Could that change following the statements from the EU last week with regard to countries having a unilateral decision on 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)

Garret Ahearn: I understand the concerns businesses have. I remember they were there when the war in Ukraine started in terms of sanctions against Russia. We had a big company in Limerick run by a Russian oligarch. There were concerns that business would go and things like that. From past experience, when Mr. O'Brien sees things like this happen or political decisions being made where there are concerns...

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)

Garret Ahearn: We heard from representatives of the Department of foreign affairs that lobbying was taking place in the political sphere and within the Department. Is that happening from a business perspective? Are big businesses lobbying IBEC or other organisations to try to influence a change in the Government'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)

Garret Ahearn: Just so I understand, will Mr. O'Brien explain what he said about significant costs to businesses if services are included? We were briefed previously that trade coming into Ireland from the occupied territories is 30% goods and 70% services. The goods were worth €685,000. As Mr. O'Brien has said, that is miniscule in the grand scheme of things. That is 30% of it so it seems 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)

Garret Ahearn: I have one final question. I thank Mr. O'Brien for his comments. When the war happened in Ukraine, companies made a decision not to trade with Russia. There was a domino effect that continued with company after company. Is Mr. O'Brien aware of companies that have decided not to trade with Israel any more? If so, is the number of companies that have decided not to trade significant?