Réada Cronin: Include Services in Occupied Territories Bill
Réada Cronin challenges the Minister over excluding services from the Occupied Territories Bill, arguing that leaving services out undermines the legislation. She cites Airbnb listings in the Occupied West Bank and a Spanish precedent to argue services must be included now.
Main argument
Réada Cronin tells parliament that banning trade but excluding services is unjustified. She highlights roughly 300 Airbnb listings in the Occupied West Bank as evidence that services facilitate the theft and commercial use of Palestinian homes.
Evidence and precedent
Cronin points to testimony from Christian Aid on restricted access to stolen homes and disputes claims that blocking services would cost jobs. She also notes Spain's action as precedent, insisting that Spain did more than ban advertising and suffered no economic backlash.
Moral urgency
She frames the issue as a question of responsibility to future generations, invoking the phrase never again and warning that offering only a partial Bill risks dishonour. Cronin insists that including services will not end the atrocities but that Ireland must not accept the bare minimum.
Policy consequences
Cronin argues that excluding services weakens the Occupied Territories Bill and contradicts the intent of colleagues who sought a stronger measure. Her remarks press the Minister to broaden the Bill to cover services such as short-term rental platforms.
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Go raibh maith agat. Minister, how can you justify banning trade with Israel without including services? Services are such an essential part of the Occupied Territories Bill, yet you continue to downplay its importance. Take Airbnb for example, there are roughly 300 properties listed for rent on the Occupied West Bank, homes stolen from Palestinians by Israeli settler thugs who then lease them out for profit, utterly depraved and completely illegal. These 300 properties represent only a fraction of the more than 8 million properties available worldwide on Airbnb, but for Palestinians whose homes have been stolen and who had lived in those homes for several generations, the sick thing is they wouldn't be able to lease these houses because they wouldn't be allowed to use the apartheid roads to get to these places, as Conor O'Neill told us yesterday from Christian Aid. To suggest Ireland blocking Airbnb from renting these properties will threaten jobs, it's farcical. It's less than 0.00004%, less than that of the industry, but it is a hundred percent the right thing to do Minister. Including services with the Bill now also has a precedence thanks to the Spanish government and don't try to mislead us that Spain only banned advertising services. Airbnb cannot list properties in the Occupied Territories Bill. It's not just advertising, they cannot list properties in the Occupied Territories. Our thesis downplaying that to mere advertising is disgraceful. Spain has not seen any kind of financial or economic backlash from the United States, as so many have said that it would happen to us here. Nobody has lost a job in Spain over this, no company has moved abroad. This genocide is not hidden from us, it is unfolding in front of us in real time, before the eyes of the world. Every day we witness unimaginable suffering. Future generations, including our children and grandchildren, will ask who spoke out, who acted, and who cowered when courage was called for. My generation often asks what would we have done if we had seen the Nazi Holocaust? Would we have remained silent, looked away? This is no longer a hypothetical question today. Ireland will send a clear message that we believe never again means never again, including services in the Bill will not end the genocide, that is true. But years from now, when people look back in history, when our kids are reading their history books, they will see that Ireland didn't just choose the bare minimum. Let it be said that when we were confronted with the genocide, Ireland said we gave it a hundred percent, and this partial Bill that you're bringing now, it brings dishonour on Senator Black's original intent.
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