Sir, – This week, as the Occupied Territories Bill proceeds to Dáil Committee stage, our legislators face a key test. Will they support a weakened approach that bans only trade in goods with illegal Israeli settlements? Or will they stand decisively with international law, justice and human rights and deliver a comprehensive ban, including goods and services? Omitting services would seriously weaken the impact of this legislation. Research by more than 80 international civil society organisations, including Oxfam Ireland and Christian Aid, has shown how trade in services by EU companies is directly contributing to the oppression, dispossession and impoverishment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Bill as it stands means that companies operating from Ireland – including online booking platforms – will still be able to advertise and facilitate rentals in illegal Israeli settlements, helping to sustain them. The legal situation is clear. In July 2024, The International Court of Justice held that all states are obliged to end trade with the settlements, making no distinction between goods and services. Neither should Ireland. The Irish Government has recognised this obligation. In an analysis by the Department of Foreign Affairs this month, they stated that “the only reasonable reading of the ICJ Opinion is that a complete prohibition on trade with Israeli settlements is required”. Over weeks of Dáil hearings last year, some of the world’s leading experts on EU and international law made clear that trade in services can be included in the legislation with the right political will. In a public letter sent to the Irish Government, over 400 of Ireland’s most eminent lawyers agreed. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has stated that excluding services has no legal basis and called on the Government to meet its obligations under international law. The Government’s contention that including services in the scope of the legislation would be legally too complex or difficult to implement doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. In October 2025 Spain took exactly this step, passing legislation prohibiting not only goods, but also the advertising and promotion of certain services, including tourism services linked to illegal settlements. By December, online booking platforms had complied, and over 100 settlement listings had been withdrawn. That is a revenue stream that has been cut off in Madrid, and it should be cut off in Dublin too. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Helen McEntee rightly points to obvious momentum for a full EU-wide ban, with at least 15 EU Member States now calling for action. Ireland has undoubtedly helped open the door on this issue, but a goods-only ban will only serve to limit ambition at EU level. We should follow Spain’s lead, include services in the national legislation, and work to ensure that an EU-wide ban is as comprehensive as possible. As the Bill moves into Dáil Committee Stage this week, there is still time to get this right. TDs will get a chance to vote on amendments to include services – they should take it. – Yours, etc, KAROL BALFE, CEO Action Aid Ireland,CONOR O’NEILL, Head of Policy,Christian Aid Ireland,ÉAMONN MEEHAN, Chair, Sadaka,GEARÓID Ó CUINN, Director, Global Legal Action Network,SEÁN FARRELL, CEO, Trócaire, JIM CLARKEN,CEO, Oxfam Ireland,Uniting IrelandSir, – Every time the subject of reunification is raised the question is always asked what will this entail, particularly by those who then refuse to talk about or countenance the possibility it could happen. I was therefore pleased to read that Fine Gael has decided to consider and prepare for the possibility, particularly to avoid a situation similar to Brexit, where the British people voted for something with no plan as to how it would be delivered. Hopefully their blueprint will provide Richard Allen (Letters, June 19th) with answers to the questions he posed. I hope other parties will begin to engage with the question of reunification like Fine Gael. Perhaps the Government could organise a citizens convention involving people from all 32 counties at which actual facts could be provided on which proposals could be based. – Yours, etc,DANNY BOYD,Belfast.Phoenix closureSir, – When I arrived from the North to work as a journalist in Dublin in 1986 I was keen to acquaint myself as quickly as possible with the local politics of that turbulent time. A new colleague gave this advice: get a copy of The Boss, the brilliant book about Charlie Haughey, and buy The Phoenix every fortnight. I did both and they were very educational. I have been a Phoenix subscriber for the 40 years since. – Yours, etc, BRENDAN WRIGHT,Belfast. Social media bans for childrenSir, – We can argue back and forth about the merits of a social media ban for children, but what no one seems to be acknowledging is that such a ban cannot be implemented without making everyone verify their identity and age before going online.Is being required to upload our government ID and biometric scans of our faces (to either a national registry or a shadowy corporate data broker) a price we are willing to pay? – Yours, etc,BRENDAN HALPIN,Annacotty,Limerick.Life after the Leaving Cert Sir, – As another generation of Leaving Certificate students emerges from examination halls, they stand in that mysterious space between what was and what will be. What many feel now is more than relief. It is the mixed emotion of ending and the quiet ache of transition. Endings are rarely just endings. They are reflective spaces between memory and possibility. We are seldom prepared for endings, even those we long for. And now that the day has arrived, what our Leaving Cert students are experiencing is not the end of school itself but the end of a world that held a thousand small awakenings and a compendium of firsts.The world that awaits them will ask much more of them than before. The world needs leaders, not just graduates. The kind of leaders who notice the person left behind. The kind who step forward when it would be easier to step back. The kind who understand that true strength lies not in power over others but in lifting others up. As they step forward into an increasingly complex world, the hope is that they will be safe, that they will be happy and that they will find purpose. That they will know their worth, especially during those moments when life may cause them to doubt it. Most importantly, it is hoped that they never feel utterly alone.Schools occupy a curious place in life. They are designed to be temporary, yet they leave permanent marks upon the heart. Their gates never truly close. Every student should know that no setback is too serious, no failure too great and no darkness too deep to prevent them return.Every young person should know that their school remains a place where they are known, valued and where they can return. Schools remain a place where help can be sought, encouragement can be found and where a familiar face might remind them of who they are when maybe life has caused them to forget.Each June, schools across Ireland perform one of their most difficult and most important tasks. We let our young people go. Not because we want to lose them, but because it is time for them to discover all that they can become. – Yours, etc,JOHN MCHUGH,Principal,Ardscoil Rís,Griffith Avenue,Dublin 9.Legal aid costs perspectivesSir, – I was disappointed to read The Irish Times view on criminal legal aid costs (June 18th). In particular, that the view only seemed concerned from the perspective of costs. This is the restricted narrative that Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and the Department of Justice wish to retain while leaving the issue of fundamental rights as the neglected elephant in the room. The Irish Times had no difficulty recognising the “systematic undermining of the rule of law” in its editorial of July 1st, 2018 (“The Irish Times view on Poland’s authoritarian drift,”). As recently as October 25th, 2025, the paper of record recognised that “the rule of law is slipping in most parts of the world” due to “an “authoritarian push”. It now fails to recognise an authoritarian push on home soil. The Irish Times should have specific appreciation for the fundamental constitutional right that is legal aid. The Editor Ruadhán Mac Cormaic in chapter 9 of his 2016 book The Supreme Court ironically entitled “Holding the Line” referenced the decision in Healy as being of particular importance despite having “financial implications for the State, because it meant that public funds for criminal cases could not in future be cut back by the Department of Finance”. In this judgment legal aid was described by Henchy J as “the shield” provided to an accused against an “unjust attack” on their right to a fair trial and their personal rights under the Constitution when they are “confronted with the might of the prosecution backed by the State”.O’Callaghan has already crossed one dangerous line with regard to fundamental rights when he threatened to call in the Army (Opinion, Conor Brady, April 2026). This next attempt should equally be called out. – Yours, etc,MARK MAGUIRE,Solicitor,Bray,Co Wicklow.Sir,– Solicitors are up in arms over what they call a derisory offer from the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan of a flat fee of €100 for cases being sent forward to the Circuit or Central criminal courts.Unfortunately they do not have an organisation, such as a trade union, to plead their case for them. I would suggest that if they swiftly organised among themselves and got a team together to seek advice from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) or one of their affiliated unions – who are the recognised experts on the ground and have vast experience in haggling with Government on many similar complicated issues – they could come out with an acceptable resolution to their problems. Who knows? They might even decide to form their own trade union or become affiliated with an existing one. – Yours, etc,BOBBY CARTY,Templeogue,Dublin 6W.Not impressedSir, – Your front page photograph, (June 18th), reveals Donald Trump in his true colours. The French president Emmanuel Macron has given precious time to give the US president a private tour of the Chateau de Versailles and what does he get for his trouble? Trump looking elsewhere as President Macron is pointing out the beauty of the ceiling. What would any normal person give for this privilege? – Yours, etc, URSULA HOUGH-GORMLEY,Donnybrook,Dublin 4.Sir, – The front page photograph (June 18th) is wonderful. Either Trump is bored out of his tiny little mind or he is assessing how much he should offer Macron to buy the chateau and transport it brick by brick to rebuild it on the grounds of the White House. – Yours, etc. MUIREANN HOURIHANE, Sandymount,Dublin 4. Ireland’s defence capabilitySir, – Aidan O’Connor excellent letter on Ireland’s defences capability, or lack thereof, (Letters, June 20th), details once again how utterly defenceless the State remains. With defence spending of 0.22 per cent of GDP and with no ability to monitor our waters, airspace or undersea infrastructure effectively, despite growing threats, and with no security strategy or dedicated Minister for Defence in place, the State remains defenceless. When abject failure appears to be the defence and security policy of choice, should we expect anything less. – Yours, etc, CONOR HOGARTY,Blackrock,Co Dublin. Irish and the cart before the horseSir, – On the topic of Irish language exemptions and curriculum reforms, almost all discussions have put the cart before the horse. The root cause of students’ difficulties with learning Irish in secondary school is that the vast majority of Irish primary schools utterly fail to prepare students for studying the language at a higher level.Proposals for teaching Irish in secondary schools the same way foreign languages are taught are effectively defeatist; they assume that after learning Irish for eight years in primary school, students should still be treated as complete beginners.Perhaps if we focused on increasing standards and expectations for primary school Irish, we would find students more capable of learning the language as they do English, rather than treating it like a foreign tongue such as French or German. – Yours, etc,PAUL Ó CÓCLAIGH,Moycullen,Co Galway.Claiming Irish heritageSir, – Why is it when someone is elected in another country we Irish somehow want to claim that they have Irish heritage. We seek to lay claim to every American president (bar one), and now your newspaper looks to the UK and the new member for Ashton-in-Makerfield, who has not yet been crowned prime minister and who could fall at the last hurdle.Can we not let other countries have their own heritage and not have someone’s granny, umpteen times removed as a link to them and Ireland?We have done our bit with our emigration to develop other nations so is it now time to let them grow from the seeds we have sowed, even more so if it is the old enemy from across the water. – Yours, etc,JOHN BERGIN,Oxton Wirral,England.Sir, – I wonder how long we will have to wait before Donald Trump tells us that “Andy Burnham is a great friend of mine.” – Yours, etc,JOHN SMYTH,Blackrock,Co Dublin.Some readersSir, – Barbara Clancy’s letter on Saturday is well written and well meant but in referring to Sartre’s quote she argues that press freedom is not a right belonging to journalists but to readers.I feel that given the pool of contributors who appear to have letters published on a frequent basis in your newspaper maybe the end of the phrase Barbara chose could be adjusted to say it belongs to some readers. – Yours, etc,BRENDAN CARMODY,Kilkee,Co Clare.