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Rights, in its 2023 update on companies operating in settlements, stated that digital, financial and logistical services are structural enablers of settlement expansion. That is from its database of business enterprise 2023. Therefore, when we exclude services we are basically excluding the sectors that sustain settlement economies … extends to any economic activity, goods or services, that contributes to maintaining unlawful situations. Dr. Valentina Azarova, in a 2020 legal briefing for the European Parliament, stated service provision is a core component of modern supply chains and cannot be excluded from due diligence obligations. If we want

Government commitment to implement the EU e-evidence package. That package provides a clear, legally certain and efficient process for law enforcement in one member state to directly request electronic evidence from service providers established in another member state, while protecting fundamental rights. Ireland's role is central … produce electronic evidence at the request of a judicial authority of another member state, imposing a legal obligation upon them to do so. The directive requires that member states ensure service providers offering services in the EU designate an addressee to process incoming orders. It also obliges member

delivered an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, a case in which Ireland and more than 50 other states made written and oral submissions. The court concluded that states should "take steps to prevent trade … with respect to services. The Government has sought and received advice from the Attorney General on the legal permissibility of an EU member state adopting measures to prohibit trade in services with a third country or territory. In the case of goods, a public policy exemption exists

which made no distinction between goods and services when it said that states must abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the occupied Palestinian territory. The Government has been scratching around for some sort of legal justification to hang this upon. What … purpose of the Bill is contrary to EU law and requires the State to do something which is not in its power." The Minister said then that legally, we could not do goods or services - neither - but European law has not changed an iota since then. The European

heard from legal experts who, time and again, told us that there is no legal distinction between goods and services when it comes to fulfilling our obligations. The Government's own analysis stated that "the only reasonable reading of the International Court of Justice advisory opinion is that … tied it to the impact on US multinationals. This tells us that it is not that the Government cannot ban services, as many legal experts showed us it could do during the pre-legislative scrutiny, but that it does not want to. Spain is home to many

crimes being carried out. Over 400 prominent lawyers have stated that we can ban trade in goods and services with the occupied territories but the Government said there are legal issues, that it is complicated and referred to the Attorney General's advice. They say the banning … Government should publish the Attorney General's advice. Spain has been able to impose a ban on goods and services and the advertisement of services. Other EU states are taking similar steps. There are clear parallels here with the boycott against South Africa and it may have been

practicality and legality of implementing that. There are more than 120 subcategories of services and that makes it incredibly complex and difficult to implement. People have referenced Spain and I note Spain has not banned trade in services but the advertisement of those services, and I would support … legislation. I note also that there are people in this House who have voted for a full boycott of the entire Israeli state. We have to be conscious of what a sanctions regime should do. Government must act in a way that holds in law and does

were to enact the amendment, service providers would still remain obligated to execute orders. That would be without oversight from directors. For the reasons I have stated, I simply cannot accept the Deputies' amendment. We cannot rewrite the regulation. There is no legal basis for Ireland to include … offence in the issuing state committed by a person who resides in that state. Execution can be refused. Article 12 sets out the grounds on which they may be refused and Article 10 provides a channel through which the service provider may alert the Irish enforcing authority when

counsellor has electronic records of counselling notes. An order is received by a service provider in Ireland that provides online storage facilities. Is the Minister of State willing to stand over legal protection for survivors of domestic, sexual or gender-based violence that is less than what

deciding to exclude services from the content of the Bill before us today. This is despite the original draft presented by Senator Francis Black. This is despite the very detailed recommendations of the joint Oireachtas committee. This is despite the legal view of many legal experts … despite the very clear legal opinion from the International Court of Justice from July 2024. Let us recall that decision. Let us recall what the International Court of Justice held was a state's obligations. It said all states are under an obligation "to abstain from entering into

raised this matter with the representatives. They said they had taken legal advice via the Chief State Solicitor's Office and the Office of the Attorney General and it was unequivocal that ECCE services are rateable and are inherently operating for profit. This means that all ECCE services

month to sanction Israeli extremist settlers and entities and those who enable them. That was hard fought for around the table. Every member state has a veto on that issue. The political reality is that we have to deal with that around the table. We hold the veto … breaches of international law. The question of services has been the main issue in this debate. This Government and any government has a responsibility to ensure that any legislation is legally robust, capable of being implemented and can withstand legal challenge. In the case of goods, a public

tools. The first is the European production order. This will allow a judicial authority in one member state to obtain electronic evidence directly from a service provider in another. It must respond within ten days or, in an emergency, within eight hours. It is ten days instead … Minister and his officials on the legislation. Ireland hosts a large share of Europe's digital economy. Many of the service providers that other member states will turn to for evidence are based here. That gives us a responsibility and an opportunity. By implementing this package fully

public childcare service similar to our primary schools. There should be a guaranteed legal right to affordable, accessible and universal early education for ever child. There should be better pay and conditions for early educators, who should be paid directly by the State. Public childcare is also … politics. The biggest obstacles for lone parents entering the workforce are the high cost and lack of availability of childcare. A public childcare service would certainly help in this regard. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion, which I support

Commission. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could update the House on whether there has been any commission progress to address the legal loophole whereby unincorporated bodies are not obliged to nominate a person to accept service of legal proceedings on behalf of their organisation. Like … This is secondary abuse. Survivors speak of years trapped in procedural disputes, unable to progress their cases. They describe being suspended in a legal limbo that delays healing, impedes meaningful engagement with therapy and causes ongoing retraumatisation. Survivors describe the litigation strategy as a continuing exercise of power

helpful if the Government published the legal advice it has received on the inclusion of services. The European Union must also do far more. The EU cannot lecture the world about human rights, freedom, and democracy while some member states fail to take meaningful action and are blocking

landlord or his or her agent? Those things are fundamentally important to the legal integrity of a statutory declaration. This is a section we will be strongly opposing. I urge the Minister of State to change the notice period for RTB hearings back to 28 days from … what we can live with. The Government needs to listen carefully to what we are saying, and to what the organisations, homeless services, legal services, NGOs and statutory bodies are saying. It needs to work with us on Committee and Report Stages to ensure that nobody who today

created by the State of Israel in the occupied territories. This includes both goods and services. In 2025, the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee unanimously recommended that services be included in a ban on trade with the illegal occupied territories in Palestine. There is no legal basis

well as goods. I supported that recommendation. The ICJ's advisory opinion draws no distinction between goods and services, and there is no moral distinction either, but the legal advice is clear. The 2015 EU basic import regulation provides a public policy exception for goods. There … equivalent for services under EU law. A Bill that includes services would face a real risk of infringement proceedings without solid legal ground to stand on. I have come to the view that a Bill which takes effect from day one and does what it sets

this Bill because the ICJ and international law make no distinction between trade in goods and trade in services. In committee, the Minister's own Department of foreign affairs legal advisers accepted that a ban on goods alone would be only "partially compliant" and would move us "towards … stronger the message it will send, which is why services matter so much. That is where the real sanctions lie. As a modern open economy, 70% of Ireland's trade with the wider world is in services and just 30% is in goods. The same is true

Ireland's legal obligations under that ruling in terms of settler violence and illegal settlements in the West Bank. I will talk about one specific case which will highlight the reality and take this discussion down to a human level when we talk about excluding services … very negative impact. It could be used by other states to say "this much but no more". It is not overstating the case to say that doing so could be extraordinarily harmful not only to the international legal order but to the very people and the very rights

accept that is the current legal position. However, a shareholder does have influence. Every shareholder has influence and the Government of Ireland should have influence over An Post. The idea that the company is a semi-State body but yet the State has zero influence on it makes … sense. Talk to my constituents before their services are uprooted. I hope the Minister of State will relay this to the Minister and that he, in turn, will relay it to An Post. An Post needs to speak to my constituents. I simply do not accept that

Minister of State to provide an update on the progress of the establishment of a new autism assessment service. We all know about the issue that exists. We are talking about more than 20,000 on the assessment of need waiting lists, many of them over … months in which that should be provided legally. There are a huge number of parents out there who can get neither an assessment nor the therapies their child requires. We really need to solve this for the parents out there

attention to that. The report sets out six clear costings in its policy recommendations, namely, stronger national leadership, better legal protections, increasing resources for homeless services, and a targeted strategy for expanding age-friendly housing. In fairness to it, that is not a radical ask. They are basic … Mallow is not the only one in homeless services, living at a homeless hub at the moment. This is not being treated as a priority by the Government. We seem to have a problem in this State where we look at elderly people and think it is someone

rights and to promote the adoption of human-centric, trustworthy Al. As with all EU regulations, the Al Act has direct legal effect across all member states. It aims to harmonise rules for Al systems across the EU, creating a single market and ensuring a consistent approach … corner of the economy and society, from healthcare and financial services to the delivery of public services and much more. Al has brought remarkable benefits. It is accelerating scientific discovery, improving outcomes in medicine, expanding access to services and generating significant economic opportunity. Our national digital