Sir, – Almost one year ago, in November 2024, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael stated unequivocally in general election debates that they supported passing the Occupied Territories Bill and included it in their general election manifestos.

This promise was repeated on doorsteps right across the country and was reflected in their new programme for government.

A year later, there is still no sign of actual legislation before Dáil Éireann and no clear information from Government on a timeline for its introduction.

The only progress so far has been a referral of the issue to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, which spent weeks in July hearing from legal specialists and expert witnesses, and concluded unanimously that the Bill should be progressed and should include a ban on all trade, including both goods and services, with Israel’s illegal settlements in Palestine.

Since then? Nothing.

Where is the urgency from Government? Tánaiste Simon Harris has repeatedly stated that despite a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, in which bombs continue to fall and people continue to be killed, Ireland will not row back on its commitments.

The lack of clear progress on a modest measure that seeks to merely deliver on the bare minimum obligations demanded by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is a worrying signal.

In the time it took for the Dáil to go on its summer recess, several other EU countries moved ahead and acted. For example, Spain introduced equivalent legislation in September and passed it into law a month later. This shows what is possible with political will.

As organisations which have worked in solidarity with Palestine for many years, including development and humanitarian organisations which see the devastating reality every day in Gaza and the West Bank, we believe the worst thing that Ireland could do now would be to renege on our commitments.

This is the tragic, predictable cycle we have witnessed so often over decades. Countries pay attention as the death toll mounts but they lose resolve when the issue recedes from public view.

Pales