Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that the government must make the Occupied Territories Bill a legislative priority after dangling it in front of the electorate ahead of the election. Failing to do so, he said, would be cynical in the extreme.

Speaking after a Sinn Féin motion in the Dáil on the matter last night, Teachta Crowe said:

“Ahead of the last election, then-Taoiseach Simon Harris said that he hoped the Occupied Territories Bill would be passed ‘in the first year’ of the new government. An Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he was ‘committed now to progressing the legislation’. Now, they need to show that this was not simply electioneering on their part.

“The Occupied Territories Bill is not something that can be dangled in front of the Irish electorate to win votes. If this government does not immediately move to pass the bill, it would be cynical in the extreme. Worse, it would make us complicit and party to genocide.

“There must be a ban on all trade, including services, with Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem. Occupiers must not be allowed to legitimise that occupation through trade, not to mention profiting from it.

“With worrying comments from the US President that they will ‘take over’ Gaza, we need to make a stand and say that Ireland will not be party to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and the further occupation and theft of their lands.”