Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 May 2026
66. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the immediate and emerging risks she has identified to the continuity of international trade flows as a result of the ongoing conflict in west Asia; to outline her engagements with EU partners to mitigate such risks; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38269/26]
View answer82. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to outline her Department’s assessment of the wider economic and trade security implications of the west Asia crisis with international shipping route disruptions; her engagement at EU level on these issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38268/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 82 together.
Ireland remains deeply concerned about the conflict in the Middle East. We hope the ceasefire can be maintained and negotiations can bring a permanent end to the conflict. I will attend the Foreign Affairs Council on Trade on 22 May where I will discuss the impact of the Middle East crisis on trade and economic security with my EU ministerial counterparts.
The Gulf states impacted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia – are a relatively small market for Ireland accounting for approximately €2.2bn or less than 1 percent of total exports and €659m or less than 1 percent of total imports in 2025. Ireland’s main exports to Gulf States include Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Agrifood, Machinery and Medical Devices. Our main imports include minerals/fuels, chemicals, machinery and materials.
Ireland’s direct trade is relatively sheltered from shipment impacts through the Strait of Hormuz and so the impacts are more indirect. They include immediate and sharp price increases in oil, gas and petroleum products.
While Ireland has low levels of direct trade with the Gulf states, the disruption to energy supplies has already fed into higher energy prices. In Ireland, the annual rate of inflation in April rose to 3.7 per cent, with energy products increasing by 15.3 per cent in the last 12 months.
Aviation has been affected through volatility in jet fuel markets, higher operating costs, and the need for alternative fuel sourcing arrangements, while maintaining essential connectivity for an island EU Member State.
Maritime transport, while not directly exposed to security risks, has been affected by systemic global shipping disruption including longer transit times, schedule unreliability, container shortages, and elevated freight rates. For Ireland, which is highly dependent on maritime connectivity, these knock on effects have tangible consequences for ports, exporters, importers and consumers.
The Gulf is not only an important global supplier of energy, but also fertilisers, chemicals, metals, mineral products and plastics. Specific products where the Middle East has significant production include sulphur, methanol, helium, urea, naphtha, polyethylene, ammonia and aluminium.
These are important products with downstream applications across many strategic sectors, including food production, healthcare, semiconductors and construction. A prolonged crisis could cause disruption for many industries.
Therefore, this crisis is not just about trade. It has implications across a range of areas such as our energy security, energy infrastructure, industrial policy, food security and our citizens’ health.
Even if the ceasefire holds and becomes permanent, lasting damage to Gulf oil infrastructure means recovery will take months or years, keeping global energy prices elevated and impacting through higher costs rather than physical shortages.
The situation underscores the urgency of diversifying and de-risking to reduce the EU’s exposure to critical chokepoints as regards goods and transport routes. The Joint Communication on Strengthening EU Economic Security emphasises the importance of understanding and limiting such critical dependencies, closer interaction with the business community to encourage diversification and the necessity to deploy a mix of measures to mitigate risks.
Ireland recognises the need for economic security and resilience measures to address specific strategic risks and critical vulnerabilities. We believe we must take a balanced and outward-looking approach to improving our competitiveness, grounded in maintaining openness to global trade and investment, with resilient strategic supply chains. We support implementation of the Economic Security Strategy, which will be a priority for Ireland’s Presidency.
Collaboration and partnerships matter enormously in this situation for diversification and de-risking. Crucially, we should not risk alienating partners by reducing openness to trade.
The crisis provides enhanced impetus to conclude existing trade negotiations and we should increasingly look at the opportunities existing trade agreements provide from an economic security perspective. We should also look at the possibility of plurilateral initiatives to collaborate with likeminded countries on areas of strategic interest, for example, in critical raw materials and technologies.
Finally, we should be mindful that a prolonged crisis could severely and disproportionately impact on developing countries, especially with regard to food production. We need to keep this to the forefront in considering our responses.
