Mr. Gerard Keown:

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Government has always been clear that it will pursue two tracks in parallel. It would pursue action at EU level on the basis that action encompassing all 27 member states would have a much greater impact than that of a member state acting alone. For that reason, the Government has consistently called on the European Union and, in particular, the European Commission to bring forward proposals to bring the Union as a whole and its member states collectively into compliance with international law as clarified by the advisory opinion. The week before last, the Tánaiste was party to a joint letter by nine member states - a tenth one joined in the room at the Foreign Affairs Council - calling on the European Commission to bring forward detailed proposals as to how the EU as a whole and its member states could be in compliance with the recommendations in the advisory opinion. It made specific reference to trade with illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. At the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 23 June, this was discussed and the High Representative said that she would ask the European Commission to carry out a review on the basis of that letter. The Tánaiste and the wider Government will be following this extremely closely and will be pressing the European Commission to do this. The Government has consistently called on the Commission to do this for many months. We look forward to seeing the outcome of that review, including proposals for concrete action that can be taken at EU level. Then the question will be as to how that can be agreed at EU level. In the meantime, the Government has been clear that pending an adequate response at EU level, it is prepared to take action at a national level, and the way it is doing so is the draft Bill before the committee today. The Bill has been framed in the way that has been explained by my colleague Mr. Smyth because of the need for us to comply with two different sets of legal obligations.