Results 61-80 of 338 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 do not think the world has moved on so much in a decade that it would not still apply. Does Mr. O’Brien accept that prohibiting companies from providing services to occupied territories is in fact doable if it was done in the case of the 2014 legislation on Crimea? What would be the various contexts? Mr. O’Brien has pointed to different ways of working but I would love 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: My question is really on practical implementation.

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: What is the difference?

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: In the recent past, services trade with occupied territories has been prohibited under Irish law.

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 Mr. O’Brien agree with 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)

Patricia Stephenson: I understand that, and 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)

Patricia Stephenson: I understand the point on struggling. That comes back to my first point, on companies’ obligation under the EU–Israel trade agreement. Clarity on this is desperately required, just to make sure companies operating in Ireland are currently meeting the obligation under the EU–Israel trade agreement to make a distinction between trade of all sorts in Israel and that in 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: Yes, but the context is that the companies should already be doing what is required, which should facilitate their doing so again under new legislation. That is the foundational aspect of my comment. I will move on from that point, having noted the Chair’s position. We have talked about risk for small companies under existing US law should this Bill be passed. Does O’Brien...

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 Mr. O’Brien hold that position in the context of the fact that we have legislation that we are beholden to, namely the Geneva Conventions Act and the International Criminal Court Act, that states we should not be trading 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: We heard from the legal experts among the Department officials that if we only applied the legislation to goods and not services, we would be only partially compliant with the ICJ ruling. We have that legal advice. How does Mr. O'Brien feel about that information from the officials from the Department of foreign affairs?

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: Our obligations under international law, as a result of the ICJ ruling, include trade in services. Does IBEC feel we should be meeting those obligations?

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: At international level as well as EU level.

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: The EU and international level, in Mr. O'Brien's opinion. Both are required to suffice.

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?