Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has confirmed she will sign the commencement order for the Occupied Territories Bill on Tuesday, September 15, bringing the long-debated legislation into force. The signing is scheduled to take place two days after US President Donald Trump completes his visit to Ireland.

The legislation, formally titled the Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026, makes it a criminal offence to import commercial goods originating in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory into Ireland. Provisions under Section 14 of the Customs Act 2015, including search, seizure, and forfeiture powers, will apply to prohibited goods once the order is active. Standard exemptions will remain in place for non-commercial personal items.

First introduced as a private member's bill by Independent Senator Frances Black in 2018, the legislation passed through both houses of the Oireachtas earlier this summer and was signed into law by President Catherine Connolly in July. While original proposals sought to ban both goods and services, the enacted measure focuses exclusively on physical goods. Government ministers cited legal advice regarding European Union trade rules and implementation complexities as the rationale for excluding services.

The decision to omit services drew criticism from opposition parties, human rights groups, and campaign organisations, who argued that services account for a significant portion of economic activity linked to the settlements. In response, McEntee has stated that Ireland continues to advocate at EU level for broader collective action, including potential EU-wide trade restrictions covering both goods and services.

The timing of the announcement precedes the arrival of US President Donald Trump in Dublin. Minister McEntee indicated that Taoiseach Micheál Martin intends to raise the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza and violence in the West Bank during scheduled bilateral talks with the US president.