Taoiseach Simon Harris has said the Attorney General will advise the Government next week if the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories gives Ireland the option of taking unilateral measures against Israel, possibly including trade, which is an EU competence.
In July, the ICJ found that Israel’s settlement policies and exploitation of natural resources in Palestinian territories were in breach of international law.
In September, the United Nations said all countries should "review diplomatic, political, and economic interactions with Israel, to ensure they do not support or provide aid or assistance to its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory".
Mr Harris said he accepted that trade was an EU competence, but the Government would be guided by the Attorney General’s advice.
He told reporters on arrival at the first EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Brussels: "My Government will receive formal advice from our own Attorney General as to what we may be able to do in this area, because the context has very much changed since the ICJ advisory opinion was given in July.
"In fact, I would go so far as to say it is now no longer a discretion on countries that support the ICJ. It is an obligation to take actions to help give effect to that opinion."
Mr Harris said he sought the advice of the Attorney General in August following the ICJ decision.
He said it was the Government’s view that the ICJ decision was a "game changer".
"We want to see if it is now possible to move ahead in terms of trade restrictions, in terms of the occupied Palestinian territories, in light of the obligation that the ICJ advisory opinion places on all of us to do everything we can to end what is an illegal and unlawful occupation."
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The Taoiseach, who is attending both the EU-GCC summit, and also a summit of EU leaders, said he was not in Brussels to have a "confrontation" with the European Commission on the trade issue.
"I'm here to take steps that can help bring about peace and political dialogue. I absolutely understand that trade is an EU competence. I absolutely support that reality.
"I've also argued consistently since becoming Taoiseach, as my predecessor did before me, that the EU Israel Association Agreement is the way to proceed.
"What I am saying very clearly here today, what I will say at the meetings, what I will say in my engagements bilaterally, is the ICJ advisory opinion is a game changer in terms of the context."
The Government has said that the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill required legal advice when it came to potential trade measures against Israel.
Ireland and Spain have both called for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement - which governs trade between both sides - on the basis that Israel is allegedly in breach of its human rights clause.
However, there has been no consensus among member states so far that a review is appropriate. Such a review would require a unanimous decision by EU capitals.
