Mayo County Council calls on Government to include a ban on services in Occupied Territories Bill
Mayo County Council has passed a motion to write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence, Helen McEntee, urging her to include a ban on trade in services in the Government's proposed Occupied Territories Bill (OTB).
Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray, who proposed the motion, addressed the chamber and highlighted that the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade has already recommended that services be included as part of the OTB.
On Wednesday, November 19, People Before Profit introduced a Private Members' Bill in the Dáil calling on the Government to progress the OTB as a matter of urgency and to expand it to include a ban on trade in services, not just goods.
It gathered cross-party support, and after a debate in the Dáil, the motion was carried without any Government amendments.
"What we are doing here today is replicating that agreement in this chamber. It concerns the OTB and seeks to extend it to services as well as goods. This position has been agreed by all parties in the county and in the Dáil," Cllr Murray explained.
His motion was then seconded and approved by his fellow councillors.
Ahead of the council meeting, Debbie McCole, chairperson of the Mayo branch of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), joined others outside the Council offices to show their support.
"The government has been dragging their feet on the OTB for far too long, it's been in process for years," she said.
"We need grassroots support for the bottom up, and we are asking our council to support the motion where we are asking for both goods and services to be included in trade against the illegal settlements."
Ms McCole said the Mayo IPSC hoped the council would take the lead, encouraging other local authorities to follow suit and increasing pressure on the Government to act.
"In this county, I think we pride ourselves on our record of human rights, and I don't want to see that thrown away for the sake of appeasing more powerful people who are really undermining our sovereignty as a people," she added.
We have so much history in this county in relation to famine and to immigration - we have seen occupation come and go here. The very least we can do is hold up the bare minimum of international law."
The first stage of the OTB passed in January 2018, followed by the second stage a year later. Since then, it has remained at the Dáil Committee Stage.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion confirming that, under international law, member states are obliged 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 maintaining the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT.""
Following People Before Profit's Private Members' Bill, Minister McEntee told the Dáil that there was a level of legal uncertainty surrounding the OTB and that she was awaiting advice from the Attorney General on the matter.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.