Local campaigners praise Sligo councillors for stance on Occupied Territories Bill

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

Northwest Mothers for Social Justice have welcomed the decision of Sligo County Council to write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Helen McEntee, and call on her to include a ban on trade in both services and goods in the Government's proposed Occupied Territories Bill with immediate effect.

The decision was made at a meeting of Sligo County Council last month following a motion proposed by Councillor Ann Higgins which said: ‘That this Council opposes the exclusion of trade in services in the Occupied Territories Bill and writes to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Helen McEntee, calling on her to include a ban on trade in services in the Government's proposed OTB with immediate effect.'

Northwest Mothers for Social Justice believe the decision puts Sligo’s local government on the side of international law.

"This decision by Sligo County Council complies with the decision of the Independent International Commission on the Occupied Territories in September 2025 which stated that ‘Israel is responsible for the commission of Genocide in Gaza’ and ‘that all signatories of the international Convention on Genocide are obliged to act to prevent and to punish it’, as the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, said emphatically to the United Nations General Assembly on 26 September last.

“We hope that Ireland will now move promptly to ‘act to prevent and to punish it’ [genocide] as the Taoiseach pledged to the UN at the General Assembly, by the Government bringing the Occupied Territories Bill, banning trade in goods and services with businesses operating illegally in occupied Palestinian territory, before the Dáil for a free vote.”

Praising the support received from Sligo County Council, the group are now calling on the Minister McEntee and the Irish Government to act on the wishes of Sligo Council and of tens of thousands of Irish citizens.

“We hope Minister McEntee and the entire Government will pay heed to the call of Sligo County Council, and the tens of thousands of Irish people who campaign and lobby constantly, for our country to take this meaningful action to stop Israel settlers and government from annexing Palestinian land and persecuting Palestinians militarily and legally in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank.

“The Occupied Territories Bill applies to the Occupied Territories where these crimes are taking place. It also would be a strong message to Israel that its ongoing killing of civilians, denial of adequate food aid, and the herding of displaced refugees into ever smaller areas in Gaza, effectively barring them from their homes, is still going on. Despite the 10 October Israeli ‘ceasefire’, Israel has killed an estimated 347 Palestinians and injured 889.

“Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia have already imposed sanctions on illegal businesses in the Occupied Territories since the International Criminal Court directed that all states must act to end Israel’s illegal occupation. It is time for the Irish government to do what is right, moral and humane and listen to Sligo County Council, by passing the full Occupied Territories Bill without further delay.”

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.