The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Campaign to Pass the Occupied Territories Bill will hold a demonstration outside the Dáil on Wednesday, November 19, calling on the Irish government to include a ban on trade in services in the bill. 

The protest, which is due to take place at 5.30pm, coincides with a vote on the motion, which will be brought before the Dáil by left and independent TDs. Tomorrow morning, People Before Profit will use their Private Members’ time to introduce the motion, alongside Solidarity, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, the Green Party, the 100% Redress Party and left independents.

In addition to the inclusion of a ban on services in the Occupied Territories Bill, the parties are calling for the bill to be passed urgently. Recently, as The Irish Times reports, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil that he did not believe it would be legally possible for services to be included in the bill.

In a statement published online, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd-Barrett criticised the government for not sanctioning Israel.

He said: “Despite the genocidal horror inflicted on Gaza over the last two years, and before that, decades of ethnic cleansing and illegal annexation of Palestinian territory, our Government has not imposed a single sanction on the Israeli occupation regime.

“Successive governments have paid lip service to the idea of solidarity with Palestine, but in reality have deliberately delayed even the minimal sanctions contained in the Occupied Territories Bill, initiated by Senator Black eight years ago, and the current Government continues to delay.”

Deputy Boyd-Barrett urged as many people as possible to attend the coinciding demonstration in order to “put pressure on the Government to implement a full ban on trade in both goods and services with the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.”

Over 67,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities. Yesterday, the UN Security Council voted in favour of approving a US plan authorising an “international stabilisation force” in Gaza.