There will be progress on the Occupied Territories Bill in the next two weeks, according to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence.
Helen McEntee has been taking questions in the Dáil this morning, where the plight of detainees of the Global Sumud Flotilla was raised by Opposition TDs.
There was widespread reaction globally to video footage posted by Israel's security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, which showed activists - including Irish citizens -being taunted by Israeli soldiers and Mr Ben-Gvir.
Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said Israel was being allowed to act with impunity with regard to the campaigners who were detained.
Labour's Marie Sherlock said it was time to level with the Irish public and urged the minister to set out a timeline for passage of the Bill.
"There isn’t a single person that saw the footage yesterday that couldn’t be appalled," Minister McEntee said.
She said the matter had been back and forth with the Attorney General in recent months over legal issues.
The minister said there would be progress in the coming weeks prohibiting the importation of goods from the Occupied Territories.
The best way to bring forth legislation was in tandem with other European colleagues, she said, such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Slovenia.
Minister McEntee said she was working on bringing the matter back to the European Commission and she hoped there would be a further vote banning the trade element of the EU-Israel trade agreement, which she said "would be worth billions to the Israeli economy".
Separately, the Foreign Affairs Committee last week agreed to place sanctions on violent settlers in the West Bank and organisations that enable them, as well as on Hamas.
