Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that Greenland "is part of Denmark and the European Union is rock-solid behind Denmark", responding to US President Donald Trump's comments regarding the Arctic territory.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that he would meet Danish officials next week after Mr Trump repeated in recent days that he wants to gain control of Greenland, an idea first voiced in 2019 during his first presidency.
He has argued that the island is key for the US military and that Denmark has not done enough to protect it.
The White House said yesterday that all options, including military action, would be considered, upping tensions that Denmark warns could destroy the NATO alliance.
"If the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States, every president retains the option to address it through military means," Mr Rubio said when asked if the US was willing to potentially risk the NATO alliance by moving ahead with a military option.
"As a diplomat, which is what I am now, and what we work on, we always prefer to settle it in different ways - that included in Venezuela."
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President Trump has also "actively discussed" purchasing Greenland from Denmark, according to the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
"His team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like," she said.
"He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that's why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like."
Asked why Trump would not rule out military action against a fellow NATO member, Ms Leavitt replied: "That's not something this president does. All options are always on the table for President Trump.
"But I will just say, the president's first option, always, has been diplomacy."
Speaking in Shanghai, where he is on an official visit, the Taoiseach said "common sense needs to prevail" on the issue.
"The US has always had a military base in Greenland and I know the Danish prime minister has been engaged with the White House and is very clear that any issues that need to be resolved are open to discussion in terms of the military base that's there."
Mr Martin said that "in terms of the territorial integrity, that's a matter for the Kingdom of Denmark and the population of Greenland".
He also said he does not think it is "realistic or possible" for the US to buy the island.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said that Greenland is "not for sale, Greenland is not for taking," and its sovereignty and future can only be decided by its people.
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, she said this is "not up for negotiation."
"If there are issues or concerns that the US has, it's about open dialogue, it's about engagement, it's about discussions.
"But the statements that we've heard in recent days are extremely concerning.
"I've been very clear the situation that we've seen unfold in Venezuela is also concerning, and this is a different America, perhaps, and the approach that they're taking is very different.
"But the international laws, the norms, and the rules have not changed and we have to be unequivocal in saying there has to be respect for territorial integrity and for the sovereignty of independent counties," she said.
Trine Mach, a Danish MP and member of the Greenland Committee in the Danish parliament, told RTÉ's News at One that people in both Denmark and Greenland were worried by the US rhetoric.
She said: "I think we have to take Donald Trump's voice very serious[ly] and very concrete as well.
"It's a year since he was bragging - excuse me for the language - about it the first time, and now it has been repeated several times over the last couple of days even, in the aftermath of the attack in Venezuela.
"So I think we are very worried in Denmark and they are certainly very worried as well in Greenland."
Read More: Could Trump's desire for Greenland spell the end of NATO?
Meanwhile, France said it is working with partners on a plan to respond should the US act on its threat to take over Greenland.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the subject would be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland.
"We want to take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners," he said on France Inter radio.
Mr Barrot suggested a US military operation had been ruled out by a top official.
"I myself was on the phone with the Secretary of State yesterday (...), he discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland," he said.
A US military operation over the weekend, in which Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro was seized, had rekindled concerns that Greenland might face a similar scenario.
The territory has repeatedly said it does not want to be part of the US.
Greenland - the world's largest island with a population of just 57,000 people - is not an independent member of NATO but is covered by Denmark's membership of the alliance.
The island is strategically located between Europe and North America, making it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defence system for decades.
Its mineral wealth also aligns with Washington's ambition to reduce reliance on China.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Rubio told politicians that Mr Trump's preferred option is to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding the threats did not signal an imminent invasion.
Denmark warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean "everything would stop", including NATO and 80 years of close transatlantic security links.
Any US military action against Greenland would effectively collapse NATO, since the alliance's Article Five pledges that member states will defend any of their number that come under attack.
Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt wrote on social media that he had sought a meeting with Mr Rubio throughout last year.
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that meeting Mr Rubio should "clear up certain misunderstandings".
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen insisted that the island was not for sale, and only its 57,000 people should decide its future.
Additional reporting AFP, Reuters
