Enacting the Occupied Territories Bill will end up “costing Irish jobs”, an expert of economic policy has predicted. 

The bill would ban the import of products from illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. 

Last year, then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar raised concerns about whether a boycott would lead to a counter-boycott of Irish products by Israel and her supporters in the United States.

On The Hard Shoulder today, economist Dan O’Brien said he likewise fears it will harm Ireland's economy and will not help Palestine. 

“I don’t believe Ireland will make any bit of a difference doing this to people in Palestine who have their land taken from them or risk having their land taken in future,” he said. 

“Don’t forget, we’re a small country, we do very little trade with Israel, it’s not going to make a big difference - and it’s going to cost us. 

“So, the trade that we do do, the Israelis are going to retaliate… So, it’ll cost Irish jobs.” 

Legality

Trade policy is a matter reserved to the European Union and the Government has raised concerns about whether the bill in its current form is constitutional.

However, Maynooth University Politics Professor John O’Brennan said people should “welcome” a legal challenge to the bill by the European Union as it could fundamentally undermine the EU-Israeli trade agreement. 

“That agreement crucially contains Article 2 which is a human rights clause,” he said. 

“It says that relations between the parties shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles. 

“This constitutes an essential part of the agreement. 

“This has not been tested in court and it has not been tested since Israel engaged in this completely genocidal attack against the Palestinians after October 7th last year.” 

Israel has consistently denied that it is committing genocide and maintains that its action are motivated by self-defence.

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Main image: A Palestine flag on the top of mountain in Palestine. Picture by: Alamy.com