Sir, – I was dismayed to read your front-page article “Occupied Territories Bill unlikely to include services”, October 15th, which reported that the Government may dilute this crucial legislation.

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments that inclusion of services “would be putting companies based here in a very difficult position... in respect of how it would be treated in the United States, ” are deeply troubling.

Are we really considering weakening this Bill because of a loud but small minority of US politicians and corporations?

Ireland has long prided itself on a foreign policy grounded in justice, human rights, multilateralism and international law. Yet we now risk making a dangerous shift towards Trump-style transactional politics.

The International Court of Justice has made it clear: Ireland can, and indeed must, ban trade with Israel’s illegal settlements, both goods and services. We cannot selectively apply international law to satisfy our economic interests and some US corporations.

Senator Frances Black, author of the original 2018 Bill, rightly stated that “leadership now means including services. That is where the money is. It’s what the International Court of Justice says is required, and it’s where intense pressure is being applied to get Ireland to back down”.

A ban on services is entirely implementable. Ireland already bans trade in both goods and services with Russian-occupied Crimea.