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Irish Times
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Occupied Territories Bill: Irish voters grow more cautious, poll shows
Voters have become more cautious on the Occupied Territories Bill in recent months, with almost half of all voters now favouring either not passing the Bill or investigating the possible consequences for Ireland before passing it. Just one-fifth of voters (20 per cent) say the Bill should be passed quickly, with a further 14 per cent saying its scope should be expanded and it should be passed quickly. About 38 per cent of people, however, say the Government 'should investigate possible consequences for Ireland before passing the Bill', while a further 10 per cent are opposed to passing the Bill at all. The Bill, which is being discussed by the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee and is due before the Dáil in the autumn, would ban trade in goods with the occupied Palestinian territories. READ MORE Pro-Palestine activists and Opposition parties want the Government to include a ban on trade in services – which Ministers have said they are open to examining. However, the Bill has been fiercely criticised as anti-Semitic by the Israeli government, by US politicians and by representatives of Jewish groups in Ireland, not least because it singles out Israel among participants in many global conflicts. There is significant nervousness in Government about the possible economic consequences of passing the legislation. There is also strong support, however, for the Palestinians and a sense that Ireland is taking a leading role in the EU in advocating on their behalf. Today's poll suggests that the public has shifted towards a more cautious position. When the subject was raised in the last Irish Times poll in April, a small majority of those who expressed a view said the Government should introduce the Bill as soon as possible, outnumbering those who favoured either pausing or dropping it altogether. Today's poll shows the balance has shifted. The 'net pass' number – including those who want the Bill passed as it is now or with the inclusion of services – is 34 per cent; the 'net don't pass' number – including those who want to wait and consider the consequences and those who want to drop it altogether – is 48 per cent. [ Taoiseach rejects US politicians' claims that Occupied Territories Bill is 'diplomatic intoxication' Opens in new window ] The poll was conducted among a representative sample of adults aged 18 years and upwards across 120 sampling points throughout all constituencies. The Irish Times/Ipsos B & A series is conducted through face-to-face sampling; personal in-home interviewing took place on July 14th and 15th. The number of interviews conducted was 1,200. The accuracy is estimated at plus or minus 2.8 per cent. Meanwhile, head of employers' group Ibec , Danny McCoy, citing concerns about the consequences for business, said the Bill was 'hypocritical'. 'We're not talking about millions here,' he declared. 'This is not about actually helping in any material way. It's symbolism and moral positioning, and so on. However, with moral positions, you can also reveal hypocrisy.' Ireland's stand on Israel is 'well intentioned', he said, but it is 'causing us significant damage. Quantifying it is really difficult, but we know it is going to have consequences'. [ Irish Times poll: Shift in public mood noted on Occupied Territories Bill Opens in new window ] The head of Amnesty International has urged Ireland to resist 'bullying' from the US and pass the Bill, which she said would be a 'precedent', in the autumn. After meetings with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, President Michael D Higgins and Attorney General Rossa Fanning, Agnes Callamard told The Irish Times she believed the Government's assessment was that the costs would be 'minimal' . 'I felt that there was a prudent recognition that the cost could be handled,' Ms Callamard said. 'That it is not something that will be a determining factor.'
Irish Times
02-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Zero sum recorded for services traded between Ireland and illegal Israeli settlements in 2023
A sum of 'zero' was recorded for services between Ireland and illegal Israeli settlements in 2023, the Oireachtas committee scrutinising the draft legislation to ban trade from them has heard. The total figure for goods imported into Ireland from the settlements in the occupied territories in 2024 was €214,000, senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs told the committee. However, when it came to services, the department's political director, Gerard Keown said there were no reliable figures and the latest available, for 2023, was zero. He and his colleague, Declan Smyth, the department's legal adviser, said that services could be traded on the internet and by email and were very difficult to monitor and quantify. READ MORE In contrast, any goods from the occupied territories had to be presented to Irish customs before entry. Most imports from the settlements into Ireland are fruit and vegetables. The officials were attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee which is carrying out pre-legislative scrutiny of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025. The draft legislation proposes to ban goods imported from the region but not services. Chairman John Lahart said there was broad agreement across all parties that services should be included in the Bill. [ Despite the politics, Ireland is Israel's second-biggest export market for goods Opens in new window ] Mr Smyth outlined several times that while services are not included in the Bill at present, the Attorney General Rossa Fanning has been asked to give legal advice to the Government on incorporating this category into the Bill. Asked when that decision would be made, both officials said the Attorney General and Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris were both very aware the issue was now before the committee. Mr Keown said the Tánaiste would act 'expeditiously' on the matter once the advice was received. Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Fianna Fáil) said the volume of goods and services being traded was not the important issue. 'If the value was only €10, the symbolic value of the legislation is still enormous,' he said. It was 'frustrating' that the committee was discussing the Bill without having the opinion of the Attorney General on services, he added. Sinéad Gibney (Social Democrats) said she was surprised at the zero sum for services given that properties in the illegal settlements are let on Airbnb. Mr Keown said they were difficult to quantify. 'Services are intangible. We do not have an accurate picture,' he said. Mr Smyth told the committee that external trade with territories outside the EU was the exclusive competence of the union and not of member states. He said that there were some 'public policy exceptions' in EU regulation on the imports of goods that did give member states leeway to prohibit the import of goods. A country like Ireland could do so on public policy grounds. However, he said there was no such specific EU legislation that the department's legal advisers could find that would allow Ireland act in a similar fashion with services. The Bill is influenced by a judgment by the International Court of Justice on trade from illegal settlements. Mr Smyth agreed with Senator Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats), Senator Alice Mary Higgins (Ind) and TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Sinn Féin) that the judgment referred to both goods and services. However, when asked whether international law trumps EU law, Mr Smyth replied that both had to be reconciled. The committee was told that several countries have contacted the department to inquire about the Bill. Shay Brennan of Fianna Fáil, asked Mr Keown had any countries 'pushed back' against it. 'There has been contact at official level from the United States around this, under the previous (Biden) administration to inquire about the intentions around this legislation', Mr Keown said. Michael McDowell said the EU laws were 'devoid of common sense'. He said a state can block goods or services from another EU state but cannot block goods or services from a state outside the EU. Senator Frances Black, who drafted the original Bill, said she was confident services could be included. 'I am 100 per cent certain that we can get the wording right. I believe there are no legal barriers to it,' she said.
Irish Times
18-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Draft occupied territories Bill not expected to cover banning trade in services, says Frances Black
Independent Senator Frances Black has said she expects draft Government legislation banning trade with illegally occupied Palestinian territories will not cover trade in services. The Government has indicated it will publish draft legislation before the end of this month, but has indicated its legal advice is against extending this to trade in services and instead focusing on trade in goods. Ms Black, who first published legislation seeking to curtail trade with the territories in 2018, also said she hopes to be called before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, where she will make the case for the legislation to cover services. Tánaiste Simon Harris, who will bring the legislation to Cabinet next week, has indicated an openness to considering amendments on trade in services if they are brought forward during the legislative process. READ MORE Mr Harris indicated earlier this week that the general scheme – an outline of the legislation – will go to Cabinet next week, which Taoiseach Micheál Martin reiterated at a meeting of his parliamentary party on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday, the Tánaiste said the Bill 'just needs a little bit of final work from a legal point of view' before going to Cabinet next week. Once that is published, it will be sent to the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs committee for pre-legislative scrutiny, a process which is expected to take around two to three weeks to complete. 'I don't think there'll be services in the general scheme, and that's where the debate will be in the Foreign Affairs committee, that's my expectation, that it won't be in,' Ms Black told The Irish Times on Wednesday. She said that her hope was that legal experts whose view is that the inclusion of services is legal will be asked before the committee to give evidence. [ Government wants to pass Bill banning trade with occupied Palestinian territories 'this summer' Opens in new window ] The inclusion of services could potentially mean tech and finance companies which conduct business in the occupied territories. Earlier this week, five separate international legal challenges were launched against Airbnb, the short-term lettings platform, which pro-Palestinian and human rights activists say is currently managing more than 300 holiday lettings in the West Bank. Elsewhere, Mr Harris told his parliamentary party meeting that the escalation in hostilities between Israel and Iran cannot distract from the situation in Gaza, where he said children are starving and humanitarian aid is not getting through. Mr Harris also told his TDs and Senators that the return of AIB to full private ownership is a 'milestone moment' and contrasted it with 2011 'when the entire banking sector was destroyed and the IMF were in town following reckless economic mismanagement'. Mr Martin told the Fianna Fáil meeting that the Government would consider proposals next week arising from the Dublin City Taskforce report, which would include funding for key initiatives including a special-purpose vehicle to partner with site owners to 'transform' the O'Connell Street area. He also welcomed the expansion of the rent pressure zones (RPZs) agreed by Cabinet last week and the granting of additional powers to the Land Development Agency, which got Government approval this week.
Irish Times
15-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Government wants to pass Bill banning trade with occupied Palestinian territories ‘this summer'
The Government wants to pass new laws banning trade with illegally occupied territories in Palestine 'this summer', Minister of State Thomas Byrne has said. The timeline for passage of the Bill , which is being drafted, has been the subject of much political scrutiny amid Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza . Speaking on RTÉ's Week in Politics programme on Sunday, Meath East TD Mr Byrne echoed comments made by his party colleague and chair of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee John Lahart. 'We want to see it passed before the summer,' he said. However, he said the Opposition would put down 'amendment after amendment' to the legislation 'designed to push the boat out, designed to get something that can't be done'. READ MORE 'I certainly hope to have it done this summer, we want to do it,' Mr Byrne said. The draft legislation, once approved by the Cabinet, must then be sent to the Foreign Affairs Committee where it will begin the process of pre-legislative scrutiny. The Government has been cautious about the idea of including trade in services and trade in goods in the legislation, arguing its legal advice is that this would be problematic. Speaking on the same programme, Social Democrats TD for Wicklow Jennifer Whitmore reiterated her party's call for the Dáil to sit over the summer if required. The lower house is due to take its summer break in mid-July, meaning the standard timeline for passing any new law restricting trade is extremely limited. Mr Byrne was critical of Dáil motions last week seeking to ban the Irish Central Bank from its role in approving Israeli government bonds, which followed a similar Sinn Féin motion in recent weeks. He said the party is seeking to 'tear apart the Government, increase division in the country, and try and use this to give political advantage for themselves'. Ms Whitmore indicated the Opposition will bring the issue back to the floor of the Dáil soon.
Al Jazeera
09-06-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
India-Pakistan conflict claims an unlikely victim: Himalayan pink salt
For the past three decades, Vipan Kumar has been importing Himalayan pink salt from Pakistan to sell in India. The 50-year-old trader who is based in Amritsar in Punjab, the spiritual hub of Sikhs in India, told Al Jazeera that the recent blanket ban on trade between the two countries following the massacre of 26 people, mostly Indian tourists, at Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir in April has brought that trade to a screeching halt after New Delhi banned imports of all Pakistani goods, including those routed through third countries. Kumar says he typically sold 2,000 to 2,500 tonnes of pink salt a quarter. 'The profit margin is very thin, but still the business is feasible because of the bulk sales. But the ban has completely halted the pink salt business. We don't know when the situation would turn normal,' he told Al Jazeera. The Himalayan Pink Salt has a pinkish tint due to a trace of minerals, including iron, and is used in cooking, decorative lamps and spa treatments. Hindus also prefer to use this salt during their religious fasts as it is a non-marine salt. The Himalayan pink salt is mined at the Khewra Salt Mine in the Punjab province of Pakistan, the second largest salt mine in the world after Sifto Salt Mine in Ontario, Canada, and located about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the city of Lahore, which also at times lends its name to the pink salt – Lahori namak, which is Hindi for salt. The salt mine contains about 82 million metric tonnes of salt, and 0.36 million metric tonnes is extracted every year. About 70 percent of the salt is used for industrial purposes, and the rest for edible use. 'The mine is very scenic and attracts several thousand tourists every year,' Fahad Ali, a journalist who lives close to the mine, told Al Jazeera. It has approximately 30 salt processing units where the huge rock salt boulders are hand-mined and loaded on trucks before being dispatched, he said. The salt is exported in a raw form to India, where importers process, grind and pack it for sale. India mostly depends on Pakistan for this pink salt. But after the Pahalgam massacre, India announced an end to all trade with Pakistan, which reciprocated the ban. The halt in trade was one of a series of diplomatic and economic tit-for-tat measures the neighbours took against each other before engaging in an intense four-day exchange of missiles and drones that took them to the cusp of a full-fledged war. On May 10, they stepped back from the brink, agreeing to a truce. However, the trade ban remains in place. Salt traders in India told Al Jazeera that the current pause in imports has started to hamper their business as prices are starting to rise. 'It has been barely over a month since the announcement of the ban, and prices have already gone up,' said Gurveen Singh, an Amritsar-based trader, who blamed traders with existing stocks for selling them at higher prices. 'The salt which was sold in the retail market for 45 rupees to 50 rupees per kilogramme [$0.53-$0.58] before the ban is now being sold for at least 60 rupees per kilogramme [$0.70],' Singh said. In some places, the price is even higher. In Kolkata this week, pink salt was being sold in markets for between 70 rupees and 80 rupees per kilogramme [$0.82-$0.93]. 'We have no idea when the situation would return to normal. There would be complete crisis once the stocks get exhausted,' he said. The rates, however, go up even more on the other side of India in the east due to the transportation cost incurred to send the salt from Amritsar. Traders in Kolkata told Al Jazeera that the prices of the salt have gone up by 15-20 percent in the city, but that has not hampered demand as yet. 'The Himalayan rock salt remains in huge demand across the year, especially during festivals when people remain on fast and prefer the pink salt over the marine salt that is produced in India,' said Sanjay Agarwal, a manager in a private firm that deals in pink salt. Dinobondhu Mukherjee, a salt trader in Kolkata, said that the government should look for an alternative country to procure this salt. 'The relations between the two countries are usually strained, and that affects the trade. Our government should look for alternative countries to procure the salt so that the supply chain is never disrupted,' Mukherjee told Al Jazeera. Pakistani exporters, however, said that the Indian ban would have a 'positive impact' on their trade. Indian traders, they said, brand their salt as their own to sell in the international market at higher prices. 'The recent ban would help us to expand further as it would wipe off the competition from India,' Faizan Panjwani, chief operating officer of Karachi-based RM Salt, told Al Jazeera. 'Undoubtedly, India is a big market and has a lot of potential, but we want to send the salt by doing value addition and not in raw form. Our salt is already in huge demand globally,' he said. Trade between the two countries has been decreasing since the 2019 attack on security forces in Pulwama in Indian-administered Kashmir in which 40 security personnel were killed. In response, India revoked the non-discriminatory market status – better known as Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status – that it had granted to Pakistan. It also imposed heavy tariffs of 200 percent on imports from Pakistan. According to India's Ministry of Commerce, the country's exports to Pakistan from April 2024 to January 2025 stood at $447.7m, while Pakistan's exports to India during the same period were a paltry $420,000. In 2024, India imported about 642 metric tonnes of pink salt, which was far lower than the 74,457 metric tonnes imported in 2018 – largely as a result of the high tariffs. Prior to the latest ban, India's major exports to Pakistan included cotton, organic chemicals, spices, food products, pharmaceuticals, plastic articles, and dairy products. India normally imports copper articles, raw cotton, fruits, salt, minerals and some speciality chemicals from Pakistan. 'The implementation of the heavy duty had raised the import price of the salt from 3.50 rupees [$0.041] per kilogramme to 24.50 rupees [$0.29] per kilogramme in 2019, even though the salt was being routed from the third country like Dubai,' trader Kumar told Al Jazeera. 'Still, it had not impacted our business as the demand was too high, and buyers were ready to pay the price. But the government, this time, has also prohibited the entry of Pakistani goods from any third country, which has brought the supply to a complete standstill,' he said. One unusual industry that is being hurt by the ban – lamps made from the Himalayan pink rock salt that are used as decorative lights and even tout unproven claims of being air purifiers. 'We have to look for an alternative country if the supply of rock salt doesn't come from Pakistan,' said Global Aroma founder Deep, who uses a single name. 'The prices of the lamps had already increased after the imposition of a 200 percent tariff in 2019, and the procurement from any other country will lead to further escalation of cost.'
