Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 May 2026
27. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if she will outline her Department’s Statement of Strategy to 2029; the way in which her Department aims to strengthen Irish influence across economic policies within the EU; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38335/26]
View answerI would like to thank the Deputy for their question. I was pleased to publish this Statement of Strategy for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, covering the period 2026 – 2029. This document sets out the Department’s mission, alongside high-level goals and deliverable outcomes and outputs we wish to achieve in pursuit of that mission.
We now operate in a continuously evolving and challenging international context. New challenges, many of which most would not have predicted only a few years ago, emerge almost daily. In the face of global uncertainty and increased pressure on international law and multilateralism, Ireland’s commitment to our core values remains steadfast.
The deputy’s specific question refers to the third Goal in the Statement of Strategy ‘To lead and shape the European agenda’, of which economic policies are a core component.
The Government strongly supports the EU’s competitiveness agenda. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade holds horizontal responsibility for EU Policy across government, including coordination of our response to the Draghi Report. This is a whole of government effort, with the domestic implementation and engagement in Brussels resting with the relevant Departments.
Ireland is one of Europe’s great economic success stories. Our experience of Europe’s Single Market as an engine for transformational economic growth has shaped our approach to EU policy-making. We will share that experience during our Council Presidency term.
We will feature competitiveness as a core theme throughout our presidency and will take forward work on the recently published One Europe, One Market Roadmap. This sets out ambitious timelines and deadlines for the agreement of proposals under our Presidency, which will be vital to boosting European competitiveness and building our economic resilience. Working with other Member States, the Commission and the European Parliament, we are determined to drive forward this work.
Simplification is a core part of the Roadmap, and a key enabler of Europe’s wider competitiveness agenda. Both the Letta and Draghi reports underlined the need to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden on EU companies, particularly SMEs.
The European Commission put forward ten simplification Omnibus packages in 2025. Each package usually contains several legislative proposals relevant to multiple Government Departments. My Department has been coordinating Ireland’s approach across Government to these packages, and we will take forward an ambitious simplification agenda during our Presidency. Simplification has to be about better regulation, not deregulation. We need to focus on reducing the regulatory burden, while maintaining high ambition in terms of consumer and environmental protections and other standards.
