Sir, – Now that the new Government has taken office, it is essential that passing the Occupied Territories Bill is made an immediate priority. Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael made very clear commitments pre-election, as well as in their manifestos, to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements. Furthermore, doing so is necessary to comply with our obligations under international law.
In its July 2024 ruling that Israel’s 58-year occupation of Palestinian Territory is illegal, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stated clearly that this places an obligation on all states, including Ireland, to “abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory or parts thereof which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory”, and to “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
Speaking in Brussels in October the Taoiseach stated that “the ICJ advisory opinion is a game changer in terms of the context, because it places an obligation on all countries” to take these necessary actions. However, it is notable that when asked about the Occupied Territories Bill, incoming Government members have only said that “goods” or “imports” must be banned. We are concerned that this suggests an intention to water down the Bill so that it would only apply to physical goods, with its prohibition on trade in services being removed.
It is particularly concerning that this would be done under the cover of an argument about the Bill’s constitutionality.
The Government’s long-standing position has been that certain aspects of the Bill, including how it defines an occupied territory or its application outside of Ireland, would require amendment in order to be constitutional. But these are technical and drafting changes which could strengthen the Bill and have nothing to do with removing services from it.
Doing so would be clearly inconsistent with the obligation outlined by the ICJ. As a UN expert legal body noted in relation to its ruling, it requires states to “cease all financial, trade, investment and economic relations” with Israel’s illegal occupation. Simply put, the ICJ makes no distinction between trade in goods and trade in services. In fact, it is the exclusion of services from the Bill which would be contrary to constitutional principles. Article 29.3 of Bunreacht na hÉireann clearly states that “Ireland accepts the generally recognised principles of international law as its rule of conduct in its relations with other States”.
Passing the Occupied Territories Bill is urgent, not just in response to the ICJ, but because of the ongoing and relentless expansion of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This includes the establishment of five new settlements and at least 52 new outposts in 2024. Seventy illegal settler outposts were also recognised as eligible for official Israeli government funding, including connecting them to water, electricity and roads.
Recent suggestions that the enactment of the of the Occupied Territories Bill could jeopardise Ireland’s national interest are greatly exaggerated. They also fail to recognise that respect for international law is a fundamental pillar of our foreign policy and central to that national interest. This is a modest but necessary measure that Ireland must take.
Israel is on trial for genocide at the ICJ and its leader is the subject of an international arrest warrant, accused of using starvation as a method of war, of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. The Irish people are deeply committed to justice for the Palestinian people. We expect our Government to pass an Occupied Territories Bill which gives full effect, not just to our obligations under international law as stated clearly by the ICJ, but to the promises made to voters before the general election. – Yours, etc,
ÉAMONN MEEHAN,
Chairperson,
Sadaka – the Ireland Palestine Alliance;
Dr JOHN REYNOLDS,
Academics for Palestine;
KAROL BALFE,
CEO,
Action Aid Ireland;
KATIE MARTIN,
AfrI – Action from Ireland;
STEPHEN BOWEN,
Executive Director,
Amnesty International Ireland;
MAEVE McLOUGHLIN,
Director,
Bloody Sunday Trust;
STEPHEN McCLOSKEY,
Director,
Centre for Global Education;
CONOR O’NEILL,
Head of Policy,
Christian Aid Ireland;
CAROLINE MURPHY,
SEÁN O’BRIAIN,
Comhlámh – Justice for Palestine;
OISÍN COUGHLAN,
Chief Executive,
Friends of the Earth Ireland;
THOMAS McDONAGH,
Director,
Financial Justice Ireland;
ÁINE NÍ FHOGHLÚ,
Gaeil ar son Gaza;
Dr GEARÓID O’CUINN,
Director,
GLAN, the Global Legal Action Network;
OWEN REIDY,
General Secretary,
Irish Congress of Trade Unions;
RUTH McCOURT,
CLAIRE MCEVOY,
Acting Co-Directors,
Irish Council for Civil Liberties;
CARMEL O’HARA,
Ireland Palestine Mental Health Network;
ZOE LAWLOR,
Chairperson,
Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign;
JOHN BOYLE,
General Secretary,
Irish National Teachers Organisation;
Dr REBECCA HESLIN,
Irish Psychologists for Palestine;
JOANNE McDONALD,
Irish Sport for Palestine;
JOHN PARKIN,
Chairperson,
Kairos Ireland;
ORLA O’CONNOR,
Director,
National Women’s Council;
JIM CLARKEN,
Executive Director,
Oxfam Ireland;
JENNY MAGUIRE,
President,
Trinity College Dublin
Students’ Union;
CAOIMHE de BARRA,
Chief Executive Officer,
Trócaire.
Personal injuries awards
Sir, – Further to “Judges expected to support draft guidelines for 16.7 per cent rise in personal injuries awards” (News, January 31st), the expected change to personal injuries guidelines will have a significant impact on the cost of settling clinical negligence claims in Ireland.
This is happening at a time when claims and legal costs are already extremely high, impacting on the HSE and the cost of indemnity which doctors require to protect themselves against claims.
Our data shows claims in Ireland take longer and involve higher legal costs than in every other country where the Medical Protection Society supports members.
The average legal cost for a claim in Ireland is €34,646, which is 191 per cent more expensive than in the UK (€11,911). In Ireland, the average claim takes four years (1,462 days) to conclude, which is 56 per cent longer than in the UK, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
The case for the Government implementing pre-action protocols and other tort reforms aimed at tackling both the human and financial cost of claims has become all the more urgent. – Yours, etc,
Dr ROB HENDRY,
Medical Director,
Medical Protection Society,
London.
Business and diversity targets
Sir, – While the American president may be making headlines for his attitude to diversity as a goal in employment practices, he is not alone in the view. Last year the Economist declared that we had passed “peak woke”, citing various data to prove the point. It seems odd that the concept was never based around creating teams to represent different mindsets or a diversity of opinions but rather focused on appearances and physical characteristics. Had the strategy involved seeking colleagues who think differently – based, say, on psychological testing – it might have been more meaningful. Ultimately if diversity as a target benefits companies, they will logically pursue it out of self-interest. Business is competitive, and ultimately Darwinian, so that practices that are not useful get eliminated. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.
Militarism and neutrality
Sir, – It is imperative that we in Ireland invest in our military resources while refusing to be drawn further into any military alignment.
The Doomsday Clock has been set at 89 seconds to midnight, yet contributors to your newspaper argue that because everyone else in the playground is joining a military bloc, we should too. Reference to the freeloading Irish, piggybacking on the defence networks of others, are a little superficial, given that none of those others would do so if it were not in their own strategic interests.
What should be done, and a policy which carries much weight with the public, is to aggressively engage in international diplomacy for a more sustainable and peaceful world. Ireland must withstand the bullying of international partners to engage militarily to support the interests only of the West. None of us want to be party to the destruction of the lives and limbs of innocent civilians.
If our Government cannot do the work which they are elected to do, that is to manage our affairs in peaceful co-existence with other countries, then it should really just get out of the way. – Yours, etc,
CAITRIONA LAWLOR,
Mount Merrion,
Co Dublin.
Trump, red tape and overseas aid
Sir, – Further to Newton Emerson’s reflections on the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) (“Musk’s assault on bloat sending ripples around the world”, Opinion & Analysis, February 6th), while Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal built the modern American state, Trump 2.0 seems determined to dismantle it. In many political administrations, bureaucracy is seen as slow, cumbersome and unhelpful, when it was actually established to ensure fairness. There may well be a dramatic shift towards leaner, more accountable governments.
However, history teaches that grand designs, whether expansionist or reductionist, rarely unfold as planned. The law of unintended consequences has humbled many a president. Mr Trump’s attempt to shrink Washington may well result in an administration so chaotic that government grows by accident, merely to manage the disorder. – Yours, etc,
ENDA CULLEN,
Armagh.
Sir, – The hatred of Donald Trump and Elon Musk for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will have devastating consequences for the poorest of the poor globally.
Their blatant attacks on all sectors of American infrastructure without approval of Congress, and the laying off of thousands of public service staff both in federal departments, and nonprofit entities, will focus the eyes of the electorate once again on another Trump era.
While there are those who approve of what Mr Trump is doing, even in this country, they don’t live in countries where starvation is rife, disease is rampant and where respect for human life means nothing. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTY GALLIGAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
Sir, – With the tide going out on international foreign aid contributions, it is worth considering how Ireland could help the situation. As one of the world’s largest tax havens, we facilitate the taking of billions of euro from the tax base of poorer countries, money that could be used for hospitals, schools and housing.
Ceasing this activity would be a significant countermeasure to the billions no longer available from USAID. – Yours, etc,
PAUL CONNOLLY,
Cavan.
The national children’s hospital
A chara, – The recent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report on the national children’s hospital (NCH) places heavy emphasis on the fact that it is not the world’s most expensive hospital (News, January 31st). Your article and headline on this report emphasise the same point. The framing is rather curious. The national children’s hospital is not the most expensive hospital in the world, just as it is not a banana. It is not a lot of things but instead of focusing so much on what the hospital isn’t, why not simply state what it is? It is one of the most expensive hospitals ever built. This fact is there in both the PBO report and your article, if one reads it far enough. The PBO report shows that hospitals for children have been built all over Europe and the US for a fraction of the cost. In the circumstances, and considering also the delays in delivering this project, I suggest that Irish politicians show some humility by skipping the usual self-congratulatory photo-ops at the hospital’s opening. Instead, the honour of inaugurating the facility should be given to a representative group of Irish children, the very people this hospital was meant to serve years ago. – Yours, etc,
REAMONN O’LUAN,
Dublin 14.
Diaries, names and shovels
Sir, – Further to Frank McNally’s comments on the use of nicknames in Ireland (“In the name of the father – Frank McNally on the waning tradition of family nicknames”, An Irishman’s Diary, February 5th), my great-grandfather was wont to leave Ireland during the late 1800s for seasonal work as a hop-picker in England. As a consequence, he became known locally in Kerry as “Paddy the Hops”.
In the 1980s, an unfortunate local man was subjected to a tirade of abuse by one of my aunts (a civil servant in the Britain) when he had the temerity to ask her whether she was one of the Hopses. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
Sir, – Frank McNally’s Irishman’s Diary about the McMahon spade (February 6th) recalled for one reader (Letters, February 7th) a time when, in his neck of the woods, people of stern visage might expect to be described as having “a face like a Lurgan spade”.
In the Co Monaghan of my youth, individuals with a particularly dour mien were sometimes characterised as having “a mouth like a Lough Erne pike”. – Yours, etc
KIERAN FLYNN,
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway.
St Patrick’s Day in the White House
Sir, – As a gesture of solidarity, give him a bowl of apples. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KEEGAN,
Booterstown,
Co Dublin.
