Occupied Territories Bill to come before Cabinet

The Government is expected to agree on Tuesday to begin the process of drafting an Occupied Territories Bill that would ban goods or services in the State connected to unlawful Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin will seek approval for a review that could create a “legal pathway forward”.
He is expected to tell ministerial colleagues that finding a solution will be difficult as any Bill would have to be in line with the Constitution and European Union law.
The Bill was the brainchild of Senator Frances Black who introduced it in the Senate in 2018. But it stalled because of legal advice that concluded it was contrary to EU trade law.
Attorney General Rossa Fanning has recently given fresh legal advice in light of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July. It concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and that there is a duty on all states to prevent trade or any other assistance to the settlements. The ICJ also held that the illegal occupation of those territories by settlers was tantamount to long-term annexation.
[ Letters: The Occupied Territories BillOpens in new window ]
The Republic co-sponsored a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 18th, 2024, which seeks to implement the ICJ’s advisory opinion.
Mr Martin said on Monday it was unlikely that the Bill would be drafted before the general election.
“It will take some time to legislate for this in my view because the existing Bill is unconstitutional at the moment in terms of its current provisions and there are also issues around other aspects of the Bill that would need to be substantially amended,” he said.
Mr Martin said he had spoken to Senator Black about this issue. “It’s a difficult challenging path and there’s no point in pretending that it isn’t,” he said.
Separately, the Government will make the first formal payment of €4 billion into one of the State’s new “rainy day funds” following the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The payment into the Future Ireland Fund is the first 0.8 per cent of GDP tranche to the fund. The money derives from windfall revenue from corporation tax. With the fund securing a loan of €4 billion, there will be a total of €8 billion in it by the year-end.
A separate €2 billion was transferred to the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund earlier this year.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue will bring proposals to promote continuity of farming in the State between generations.
Mr McConalgoe will tell Cabinet of his plans to boost the numbers of young people taking up a career in farming. It will centre on a new commission on generational renewal in farming, which will report back to him next year.
There are increasing challenges with attracting young people into a career in farming. Only 7 per cent of farmers in the State are under 35 and more than 30 per cent are more than 65, a pattern replicated throughout the EU.
Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien will bring two memos to Cabinet on the defective concrete blocks remediation scheme.
One will be to approve an order to add Sligo County Council to the scheme after it was approved by the Oireachtas last week.
There are an estimated 200 to 300 dwellings in Sligo affected by defective concrete blocks
The other memo will be to make an order to increase the overall grant scheme cap by 10 per cent from €420,000 to €462,000, along with a 10 per cent increase in ancillary grants, for accommodation costs, storage costs and essential immediate repairs.