Today, the left is coming together in the Dáil to demand that the Government implements a full ban on trade in both goods and services with the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.
For decades, Israel has occupied Palestine and engaged in ethnic cleansing and illegal annexations. For more than two years it has inflicted a campaign of genocide on the people of Gaza, and yet the Government has not imposed a single sanction on Israel. Successive governments have engaged in much public hand-wringing for Palestine, while delaying the limited sanctions proposed in the Occupied Territories Bill, initiated by Senator Frances Black almost eight years ago.
It’s a year since the Government parties made pre-election pledges to pass the Occupied Territories Bill, but after re-election, they returned to delay tactics. After lobbying by the US Chamber of Commerce, the Government has also sought to greatly dilute the effects of the trade ban by excluding services.
In July, the Foreign Affairs Committee, despite its Government majority, unanimously called for the Bill to be amended to include a ban on trade in services. Now to avoid any possibility of backbench TDs voting against it, the Government has cynically declared it will not oppose our motion, while simultaneously refusing to commit to what the motion asks – including a ban of trade in services.
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Despite the so-called ceasefire, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory remains horrific. Violent colonisation continues. There have been record numbers of home demolitions, settler attacks and orders for new illegal settlement construction in 2025.
The implementation of a full ban on trade in both goods and services with the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, as proposed by Black in 2018, is essential. It is a first step toward the comprehensive sanctions needed to stop Israel’s genocide and illegal annexations and to prevent any more crimes against the people of Palestine.
For People Before Profit, this is also about continuing the momentum of left co-operation from the Catherine Connolly campaign. The motion is being proposed in our Private Members’ time and is signed by TDs from PBP, Solidarity, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, Labour, the Green Party, the 100% Redress Party and Independents.
The big lesson of the presidential election victory is that if the left unites and mobilises people, it can win. A unified left offering a clear alternative to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael can now push on to end the conservative parties’ rule and achieve a left government at the next general election.
To fulfil this potential for radical change that can redefine our society, it is important that the parties of the left maintain an active, working co-operation inside and outside Leinster House. When the left unites to amplify and build powerful movements in communities, workplaces and on the streets, we can achieve victories.
[ Government will not oppose joint Opposition motion on Occupied Territories BillOpens in new window ]
As well as co-operation on Palestine, we are working with others in the Irish Neutrality League to stop the Government’s removal of the triple lock, which prevents future governments from sending Irish troops abroad to fight in wars for big powers. We want to develop a coalition for action on the deepening cost-of-living crisis, as well as working with the trade unions and others in Raise the Roof to mobilise on housing and homelessness.
To win on any of these issues will require much more than the sum of the parties. But just as the Connolly campaign mobilised more than 16,000 mostly non-party members to volunteer, the dynamic of unity can galvanise much broader numbers of people into action.
For PBP, joint action on issues today is one part of how we deepen left co-operation. The other is a process of discussion between parties and non-party left activists with a view to being able to present a clear choice in the next election: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and those who would prop them up, or a left government. We would like to see a broad assembly of the left in the New Year to discuss these issues.
There are many voices eager to quote Brendan Behan and suggest that the first item on the agenda will be the split. Readers should remember that many of those same people said the same about the Connolly campaign. They should also remember that differences and debates are an inevitable and healthy part of any united action. We are separate parties because we have distinct ideologies, policies and strategies.
PBP are not about to jettison our commitment to people-power politics, nor our belief that an ecosocialist programme will be required to deliver meaningful change. We are not going to hold back from criticising those who leave the door open to coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael or scapegoat asylum seekers or other vulnerable people.
The question is whether we can coalesce around a commitment to elect a left government, excluding Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and a series of broad principles – the right to housing; a national health service; radical and just climate action; disability justice; defence of neutrality; and opposition to racism and the far-right. On that basis, a formal transfer pact between multiple parties and Independents would give people a real choice in the next general election.
The first electoral test for the “Connolly Coalition” will come in the Galway West byelection, where a transfer pact could help defeat the Government and the populist right and keep the momentum with the left. We in PBP are open to going further than that, and are prepared to stand aside to support a strong, principled left candidate. Dublin Central will now see another electoral challenge and opportunity for the left.
In the meantime, we will be united in the Dáil today and on the streets outside at 5.30pm. Years have been wasted by successive Governments while Israel has continued its occupation and annexations, and carried out its genocide in Gaza. It’s time for action.
Paul Murphy is People Before Profit–Solidarity TD for the Dublin South-West constituency
