Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

These are the kinds of projects we can deliver through engagement that make a practical difference to people's lives. That is what I am interested in.

We are also advancing an expanded programme for scholarships for Palestinians. We continue to advocate strongly for a commercial port for Gaza in the medium to longer term and have placed the issue of pre-checking goods in the EU - in Cyprus - prior to arrival in Gaza as a potential means of loosening or breaking the blockade, which has caused untold suffering. We have managed to place that back on the agenda for consideration by all interested parties. It is not only Ireland working on this but we have advocated forcefully on this issue for a year. We were getting nowhere one year ago. Six months ago, we were getting somewhere and now the Israeli Government is actively talking with Cyprus about how a Cypriot port could be used to facilitate commercial traffic in and out of Gaza port for Palestinians. This would be a breach and breaking of the blockade through diplomacy and politics, which is what I am interested in achieving, as opposed to protest.

These are the kinds of issues on which Ireland is exerting influence and which I have spent my time trying to bring forward. They are tangible, practical projects to improve daily life on the ground, but we need some political space to be able to deliver them. All of this effort could come to naught if we choose to go it alone by isolating Ireland in policy development in this area. The third basis on which the Government must oppose the Bill is the assessment of its practical effects. Targeting settlement products is not a magic bullet. The settlement project is motivated by predominantly political, security and, unfortunately, ideological considerations, not economic. Settlements are hugely expensive for Israel and contribute little. Their exports are not an essential prop, without which the system would collapse. Most settlements produce nothing, except a great deal of hassle for many. It is estimated that almost all settlement goods could be absorbed by the Israeli domestic market, if exports were impossible. The volume of settlement goods reaching Ireland is thought to be very small. The effect of a ban as envisaged in the Bill would be largely symbolic, rather than practical in deterring settlements, as I believe most of us would accept. However, the practical challenges and costs of compliance for businesses would not be negligible. The Bill would risk putting companies based in Ireland in a position where they would face conflicting legal obligations in Ireland and other jurisdictions where they operate. For example, the careful distinction made in the Bill, in focusing only on settlements in the occupied territories, not Israel, is one which is not always reflected in the drafting of anti-boycott legislation at federal and state level in the United States. As we know only too well, these careful distinctions are too frequently lost in reporting internationally on the type of proposal under consideration.

I fully accept that the Bill, if enacted, would provide solace and support for Palestinians at a difficult time. From that perspective, emotionally, I can connect with it. We constantly need to think of ways to do more to protect the Palestinians and raise their cause internationally, but it may only be a moment - a once-off boost to morale and an act of solidarity - that will quickly diminish in effect when Ireland finds on the international stage that it is no longer as influential as it would like to be. I have stated the Government has clear and consistent advice that the Bill would put Ireland in breach of EU law. Even if that were not so, the balance of positive and negative impacts argues strongly against this unilateral move by Ireland at this stage, however strongly it may appeal to our sense of right and desire to act. Believe me, it is a strong sense from my perspective, but it would damage Ireland domestically and, more importantly, in the context of our ability to help Palestinians internationally, to which I am absolutely committed to doing. For these reasons, I am opposing the Bill.