Is mór an onóir dom labhairt sa Dáil inniu ar ócáid Lá na hEorpa. As Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, I am proud to speak today to mark Europe Day. In less than eight weeks' time, on 1 July 2026, Ireland will take on the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the eighth time. The European project was not built for easy times. It was built precisely for moments like this, and it is delivering for Europe and for the people of Europe. Ba mhaith liom trí rud a dhéanamh inniu. First, I want to acknowledge the significance of this Europe Day, in the context of our Presidency of the Council. Second, I want to set out the priorities Ireland intends to pursue. Third, I want to speak honestly about what is at stake, for Ireland and for Europe, as we prepare to lead.
Before I turn to the work ahead, I want to spend a moment on what the European Union has meant for Ireland because it is important, particularly in this House, to say it plainly. In over 53 years of EU membership, Ireland has been transformed. When we joined in 1973, we were an economy heavily dependent on one trading partner, the United Kingdom, with limited access to international markets and no seat at the table, in any of the decisions that shaped our Continent. Our membership of the European Union changed all that. It gave Irish businesses access to a market of 450 million people. It gave Irish students the freedom to study across Europe. It gave Irish workers the right to live and work in 27 countries. It underpinned the Common Agricultural Policy, which supports our farming communities. The European Union protected the peace process in Northern Ireland during Brexit - when the protection of that peace was our first priority - and I restate my thanks to our fellow EU member states, their citizens, parliamentarians and government members for their solidarity during that time. Our EU membership helped us through the financial crisis. It helped us through a global pandemic. For Ireland, EU membership is not a political abstraction; it is the lived reality of every business, every farmer, every student and every family in this State.
The Taoiseach has described Ireland's EU Presidency, as a Presidency that will be defined by action. This is a commitment rooted in a clear understanding of what a Council Presidency is, and what it demands. During the Irish EU Presidency, we will act as an honest broker. We will chair the Council's work, across all its formations. We will set agendas, build consensus, broker compromise and move forward a legislative programme of enormous breadth and consequence. We will do this in the interests of all 27 member states. That impartiality is precisely what an EU Presidency is about, and what gives it its authority and influence. The scale of what lies ahead is significant. In Brussels and Luxembourg alone, our Ministers will chair dozens of formal Council meetings. Our officials will lead the work of approximately 180 Council preparatory bodies, most of which meet on a very regular basis. We will lead the Council's legislative engagement, with the European Parliament, across dozens of policy areas. We will chair negotiations in a range of international multilateral forums, including in the UN framework.
Here in Ireland, the Taoiseach will host a meeting of the European Political Community, the largest event of its kind ever held in this State, bringing together Heads of State and Government, from 47 European countries to Dublin. I think about the founding fathers and mothers of this country and how proud they would be to see a Taoiseach of Ireland leading 47 Heads of State and Government in Dublin as an equal partner with all of them. We will host an informal meeting of the European Council. We will host up to 22 informal ministerial meetings, with approximately a quarter of these taking place outside Dublin - in every corner of this country - ensuring that the EU Presidency is truly national in its reach. We will set out our full EU Presidency priorities and policy programme in early June, as is traditional. What I can say today is that our work is organised around three broad thematic pillars - competitiveness, values and security. This reflects the pillars of the EU's strategic agenda for 2024 to 2029. The pillars are not independent of one another. They are interconnected and dependent. Without security, there can be no prosperity. Without competitiveness, we cannot sustain our societies, our jobs and our economies. Without values, without democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, none of it matters, and none of it, quite frankly, exists.
Competitiveness is what ensures that the European economy thrives, and that its citizens prosper. It is what delivers good jobs, good wages, and a good of life, and it is a genuine priority for Ireland's EU Presidency. The context is clear. Europe faces real and serious competitiveness challenges, exacerbated by the fallout of the conflict in the Middle East, to which I will return. While our Single Market is very successful, it remains a work in progress. The IMF has estimated that internal barriers to trade, in the Single Market, amount to the equivalent of tariffs of 40% on goods and 110% on services. Energy costs are elevated and continue to rise. Investment in research and innovation has lagged. The regulatory burden on businesses, particularly on SMEs, is too high. At the informal European Council in Cyprus, European leaders signed the One Europe, One Market roadmap to address these issues. This has given us firm targets, and a clear timetable. There are approximately 28 proposals, which the joint statement called to be agreed, by the end of the Irish EU Presidency. We intend to deliver on that agenda. We will spare no effort in doing so, and we will rely on a matching level of commitment from other member states, from the Commission and from the European Parliament.
Simplification of EU rules is a top priority for this Government, and will be a top priority for our Presidency. The European Council, the democratically elected leaders of the member states of the European Union, has called for a simplification revolution. That language reflects a genuine political consensus around that table, that the regulatory burden on businesses and citizens must be addressed. The Commission has set a target of reducing administrative burdens by 25%, and by 35% for SMEs, by the end of its current mandate in 2029. It has proposed ten simplification packages, known as omnibus packages, to date, covering sustainability reporting, due diligence, chemicals, digital regulations, environmental rules and more. Today, we got political agreement between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament on the AI omnibus package. Irish members of the European Parliament and the Council were involved. I thank the Cypriot Presidency for its work. This is a democratic process that is happening here to deliver not just easier rules for business but, in this case, more protection for minors and other people affected by nudification use in AI.
The savings for businesses that are estimated from the simplification process are about €12 billion a year in the packages that have already been proposed by the Commission. As Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, I sit on what is known as the General Affairs Council of the European Union. During the EU Presidency, it will be my job to steer this simplification agenda on the General Affairs Council, where it sits. Our primary focus and my primary focus is not deregulation; it is on better regulation. It is cutting red tape. It is about ensuring that the rules we have serve their intended purpose but do not create unnecessary costs and complexity for business. It matters for Ireland too. Simplification can help us address some of our most pressing domestic challenges in infrastructure delivery and housing. Recently, along with six member states in total, I have written to Commissioner Dombrovskis, calling for simplification of permitting and planning rules in order to help us to continue to build more and more houses. That agenda is gaining some considerable traction around the European Union.
The Single Market is the engine of our success. Deepening it and completing it in services, in digital and in capital markets is an Irish priority of the longest standing.
The savings and investment union, the so-called EU Inc. proposal for company law and progress on the capital markets union are all central to our competitiveness agenda.
Another critical area of work for our Presidency, which falls under the General Affairs Council and then with the leaders, will be the negotiation of the new multi-annual financial framework, MFF, which is the EU's long-term budget for 2028 to 2034. The Commission has proposed a budget of €2 trillion to support competitiveness, decarbonisation, security, cohesion and Europe's global role. The shape of the budget will determine what kind of EU we will have for the next seven years and it will be one of the most consequential pieces of work that any EU Presidency undertakes. I am more than happy to come into the Dáil, the Seanad or a committee at any point to update Members on the work as this negotiation continues. Ireland will approach this with seriousness, with ambition and with a commitment to outcomes that work for all member states; including the smallest, the most peripheral, and those most dependent on cohesion funding.
We have also set out our national priorities last year, which take a somewhat second place as we take on the Presidency. However, those national priorities are very clear. Central to them will be the Common Agricultural Policy and funding for research and innovation through the Horizon programme based on excellence. We will work very seriously on this.
Energy policy is, of course, to the fore again. The conflict in the Middle East has again precipitated an affordability crisis with a direct impact on Irish households and businesses. In response to the impact of events occurring in the Middle East, the Government has responded with a package of substantial measures to help alleviate the pressures on Irish households and businesses. In the medium to long term, decarbonisation and the adoption of green energy will be central to our energy security and competitiveness, and this has been a key focus of the response at EU level. The Government welcomes the Commission’s package of proposed measures recently outlined in the AccelerateEU communication. We will take this work forward during our EU Presidency, and we are committed to making meaningful progress on the grids package and other key files, which will expedite the deployment of renewables and bolster the EU’s security of supply.
The renewed agenda for EU-UK co-operation will be a priority during our EU Presidency. This is something that is on the agenda regularly at the General Affairs Council. I welcome the agreed ambition to conclude negotiations on a youth experience scheme, a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement and on linking our respective emission trading systems by the next EU-UK summit. In a challenging geopolitical environment, we see the UK as a vital, like-minded partner and it is in our mutual interest to have a close relationship also in the area of foreign and security policy.
The EU is, first and foremost, a union of values. They are set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union. They are not aspirational guidelines. They are legally binding on us and they are the foundation on which everything else is built. We will be an unambiguous champion of those values. We will address challenges to the rule of law, including democratic backsliding, wherever they arise. I will steer the ongoing work in this area, as chair of the General Affairs Council, making full use of the rule of law toolbox, and by paying close attention to the findings of the European Commission's annual Rule of Law Report. The rule of law is not a peripheral concern. It underpins the effective functioning of the Single Market. It is essential to the Single Market and I always say Ireland's own adherence to the rule of law over many decades has been essential to our economic success. The rule of law and our values is what makes EU membership worth having and we must maintain it with conviction and without compromise.
Values also means enlargement. It is more than 13 years since a new member state, Croatia, joined the Union. That is too long. The enlargement process is one of the most powerful instruments the EU possesses for security, stability and the long-term prosperity of our Continent. Growing our Union is the best way to secure our Continent. I believe we have a generational opportunity and a generational obligation to keep moving forward.
I was in Kyiv six weeks ago to mark St. Patrick’s Day with the Ukrainian people and our diplomats in Kyiv for the occasion of the first official St. Patrick’s Day reception held at Ireland’s Embassy in the city since it opened in 2021. During that visit, I met with senior figures in the Ukrainian Government and gave them Ireland’s personal assurance that we will do everything we can during our EU Presidency to advance Ukraine’s accession process. Ukraine’s destiny lies in the European Union. That conviction will underpin Ireland’s work during our EU Presidency as Ukraine continues its fight against Russia’s illegal and barbaric war.
Moldova too has shown deep democratic courage. Its people voted in favour of an EU path for their country, despite relentless external interference. Montenegro might be small in population but it is determined in purpose and it is working to meet the criteria for membership. Albania is advancing. The western Balkans and the former Yugoslavia must not be left waiting indefinitely. As holder of the Presidency, Ireland will work to sustain the momentum on enlargement and to ensure that bilateral disputes cannot be allowed to slow down individual candidacies.
We support the use of qualified majority voting when deciding to open negotiating clusters, as proposed by Germany and Slovenia. We believe this is a practical measure to keep progress moving forward while preserving unanimity for the final decisions.
In the context of a deteriorating, and increasingly contested international security environment, the need for greater international engagement and co-operation, especially through the EU, is vitally important for Ireland. Ireland is supportive of the initiatives at EU level to increase resilience and capabilities of member states. We see value in member states and partners working together to mitigate the threats and challenges we collectively face. Ireland is investing significantly in its own security and defence architecture to confront new threats and to protect our citizens and our economy. We have increased national defence spending by 43% since 2020. In December, we launched the €1.7 billion Defence Sectoral National Development Plan 2026–2030, which includes major capability upgrades across land, air, maritime and cyber domains. It represents an increase of 55% in capital funding allocated to defence up to 2030 and is the most significant investment package in the Defence Forces in the history of the State. We will adopt a constructive, positive approach to the development of the proposed new European security strategy, including during the upcoming Irish EU Presidency.
The Government has consistently been a strong advocate for the rights of the Palestinian people and we continue to use every opportunity within the EU to stress our grave concerns about the situation in Palestine. Over six months into the ceasefire, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. The majority of Gaza residents are displaced in dangerously unsanitary conditions, while access to essential supplies and services are severely restricted by arbitrary regulations imposed by Israeli authorities. Meanwhile, the situation in the West Bank is deteriorating, where Israeli military operations have caused widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and homes and significant displacement. Extremist settler violence is also rampant and continues in an environment of impunity.
Ireland and Spain first called for a suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement in February 2024. In June 2025, an EU review concluded that Israeli actions breached Article 2, which is the human rights clause of the agreement. At the most recent Foreign Affairs Council, Ireland called for the suspension of the agreement. We will continue to press for appropriate EU action. If we do not act, the viability of the two-state solution and the credibility of the EU is at stake.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Iran, Ireland has been closely engaged with its EU and wider European partners in monitoring and reacting to the developments. We must see the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping to mitigate the economic impacts, which are affecting households across Europe. We have jointly welcomed the ceasefire agreements in the Gulf and the Levant while calling for further negotiations to turn these into lasting peace agreements. Israel and Hezbollah must fully maintain the ceasefire in Lebanon. Ireland has been at the forefront in calling for international law to be upheld at all times. All parties are obliged to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure during conflicts.
We also demand the protection of UN peacekeepers. I am deeply saddened by the death of six UNIFIL peacekeepers and the injuring of others in Lebanon. When I went to meet my counterpart in France recently, the first thing I mentioned was that France had recently suffered the deaths of two soldiers and expressed my sympathies to the government of France and to the families. We know Irish families have had similar experiences over many years there and we must constantly remind ourselves of the sacrifices our peacekeepers make. I offer my condolences to the families, comrades and nations of those who were killed.
The conflict in Sudan has sadly entered its fourth year, and has become the world's worst humanitarian and protection crisis with over 150,000 dead, a figure estimated to be much higher in reality, and almost 12 million Sudanese forcibly displaced. We remain resolute in our commitment to ensuring this crisis is not sidelined or forgotten. We regularly raise this at EU level. We will continue our active role on the political and humanitarian tracks when we assume the EU Presidency later this year.
The Presidency is not only about the six months in which we hold the chair; it is about building Ireland's long-term influence and presence in the European institutions.
That is why I believe that the Career for EU strategy, which I launched in 2021, when I was previously Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, matters. The officials who draft proposals, shape regulation and turn political agreement into operational law are central to how the Union works. The more Irish people in these roles, the more the Irish perspective is heard and understood. I am pleased to report genuine progress. Ireland has increased the number of permanent officials at the key entry grades in the European Commission from 30 in 2022 to 43 by the end of last year. Earlier this year, the Commission ran its main graduate-entry competition for the first time in seven years, and more than 1,700 Irish citizens applied. This is the tenth highest application rate per head of population in the entire Union, so we have come a long way. When I first took the office of Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, the advice was that this had now reached a crisis point and that we had to do something about it. That is why I launched the Career for EU strategy, which we have continued to push, and we now see the results of that.
One other area we emphasised at the time was the provision of more seconded national experts into the European Union system. Now we have the highest number of seconded national experts per capita of any member state in the Commission. These are striking figures, and this is something I am pleased to see success on. It is a project that is very close to my heart. These figures are also a vote of confidence in the European project from a new generation of Irish people who want to shape the European Union's future from the inside.
The EU Presidency happens in Ireland as well as in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. I am committed to taking the EU Presidency to communities across the country. The Presidency belongs to all of Ireland. We are the European Union. The county pairings programme, which pairs individual Irish counties with EU member states, is one way of doing this. It is creating new connections, new conversations and new relationships at a local level that will outlast the Presidency itself. I have been struck by the enthusiasm the county pairing project has generated. The Communicating Europe initiative is another. It funds local civil society organisations to engage their communities on EU issues. More than 270 events are planned throughout Ireland during the Presidency, ensuring that this is a genuinely national moment.
On Saturday this week, we mark the 76th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration. We mark it in a world that Robert Schuman would recognise in its instability, its danger and its need for the kind of creative, principled co-operation he proposed. No institution is perfect, and the EU is not perfect. It moves sometimes frustratingly slowly. However, we must always distinguish, I believe, between the institutions of the European Union and the people we elect to put in the institutions. We should guard the institutions with dear life, and then we can vote for the people whom we want to represent us in the institutions, either through governments or through the European Parliament when those elections happen. I pay tribute - I have done this already in the Seanad - to the current crop of MEPs. There are different political viewpoints from Ireland in the European Parliament, but all the MEPs are visible, working on particular files and doing great service for the country. They are in touch with people. People know what is happening in Brussels and in Strasbourg more than they ever did, and that is welcome because it adds to the democracy. It reminds people that this is a democratic project and that no law can pass through the European Union unless it is approved by the European Parliament, by the member states. The Commission merely proposes. The democratic process, of course, requires compromise, patience and goodwill from 27 very different countries, but the European Union is our institution. It is an expression of the values we share. It is a framework for acting together in the world.
The European Union is a guarantee - and we know this guarantee - that no EU member state faces the challenges of our time entirely alone. When Brexit happened, there were MPs in parliaments all over the European Union who all of a sudden became experts on the Irish Border, the North of Ireland and our specificities. It is so encouraging to meet them still, and they are very proud of the work they did. Ireland has always punched above our weight in Europe, since the very day we joined. We have shaped European Union legislation, led European Union negotiations, built European Union institutions and championed European Union values, while also fighting for our national interests at every turn. We have done it as a small state with big ambitions and a genuine commitment to the European project. This is exactly what we will do from 1 July. The challenges that Ireland's EU Presidency will face in competitiveness, in security, in upholding our values, in enlargement and in negotiating a new long-term budget for Europe are real and serious. We need leadership, judgment and determination. We are ready. On Europe Day, let us remember that we are Europe - we are the European Union. Is é mo thuairim go mbeidh Uachtaránacht na hÉireann ar cheann de na hUachtaránachtaí is éifeachtaí a chuir an tír seo ar fáil do Chomhairle an Aontais Eorpaigh. It is my firm belief that Ireland's EU Presidency in 2026 will be one that truly delivers for Ireland, for Europe and for generations to come.
It is a matter of considerable pride to me, as an Irish speaker, go mbeidh seo an chéad Uachtaránacht ina mbeidh an Ghaeilge mar theanga oifigiúil de chuid an Aontais Eorpaigh. Táimid tar éis conradh a dhéanamh maidir le haistriúchán agus ateangaireacht a bheith ar fáil anseo in Éirinn do na cruinnithe a bheidh ar siúl. Anois tá an Ghaeilge, sa Chomhairle ar a laghad, comhionann leis na teangacha eile ar fud an Aontais Eorpaigh. It is a matter of considerable pride to me that the Irish language is an official language of the European Union for the first time in an Irish Presidency. We have recently concluded a contract for the provision of interpretative services at the Presidency council meetings for Irish to be available. I can go to a council meeting of the European Union since 2022, and now for the first time in a Presidency, and speak Irish and my Lithuanian colleague on one side can hear me in Lithuanian and my Cypriot colleague on the other side can hear me in Greek, English or whatever they want. That is an extraordinary achievement and shows that the diversity of countries actually finds expression in the European Union, and the Irish language is the classic example of that.
