TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS has said he will write to the Attorney General today to seek fresh legal advice on trade with Israel. 

It comes after it emerged that Ireland will no longer purchase military and defence equipment from Israel.

Tánaiste and Defence Minister Micheál Martin confirmed the decision yesterday, saying that it had been taken in light of the International Court of Justice’s recent ruling that Israeli settlements in the West Bank breached international law and its opinion on the country’s actions in Gaza.

Speaking on Newstalk’s The Pat Kenny Show this morning, Harris said he would seek fresh advice in the context of the ICJ ruling.

“It has been the absolute clear legal advice from successive attorney generals that trade is a European competency, and therefore we need to keep making the case at a European level, which I do with my peers and counterparts,” he said.

“I do want the Attorney General to provide me with fresh legal advice in light of the most recent ICJ judgment over the summer months, but for now, we’re continuing to call, at an EU level, for a full review of the trade agreement between the EU and Israel.”

In February, then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez called for an “urgent review” of whether Israel was complying with its human rights obligations under the EU/Israel Association Agreement. 

Two months later, the Tánaiste said Ireland and Spain’s efforts to review the diplomatic and trade relationships with Israel had hit some tensions from some countries. 

Harris repeated the call for a review of the trade agreement earlier this month.

This morning, he said the human rights clauses in the trade agreement “aren’t in there to pad out the document”.

“They have to have real meaning and real effect. I make this point to every European president and prime minister I meet, and will continue to advocate for that.”

He said the decision to stop purchasing defence and military equipment from Israel was “an appropriate one”. 

“I think it’s really important when an international court makes substantial, substantive findings, that those findings are given effect in every way.

“I have consistently said… at home and abroad, publicly and privately, we must use every lever at our disposal to maximize the pressure on the Netanyahu government to bring a cessation of violence.”

Separately this morning, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said the Government should summon the Israeli ambassador if Ireland’s airspace is being used for the transport of munitions.

The story was first reported by The Ditch last week. The Journal has independently determined through sources and open source flight information services that several such flights passed close to Ireland, with some believed to have entered Irish airspace since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza on 7 October.

Earlier this week, the Taoiseach said that “no consent” had been sought for the overflights.

O’Gorman told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning: “We cannot see our airspace be used for the transport of munitions that are going to be used in the war in Gaza.”

However, he said he would prefer to hold back and not expel the ambassador, preferring to keep channels open for negotiations.