Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2026
265. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if she will support a fast tracking to EU membership for Iceland if that country applies for membership; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18070/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraIreland and Iceland have very strong bilateral relations. I recently met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir at the Munich Security Conference
Iceland applied for EU membership in July 2009, with the Council deciding in June 2010 that accession negotiations would be opened. Iceland froze accession negotiations in May 2013, following a decision by the then government. At the time of that decision, 27 of the negotiating chapters had been opened, of which 11 were provisionally closed. In March 2015, Iceland’s government requested that that they should not be regarded as a candidate country for EU membership, but did not formally withdrew its EU accession application.
Last year, the government of Iceland declared that it would hold a referendum on resuming EU accession negotiations. In February 2026, the Prime Minister of Iceland confirmed her government's intention to hold a referendum on formally resuming EU accession negotiations in "the coming months".
The Treaty on the European Union states that any European country may apply for EU membership if it respects the democratic values of the EU and is committed to promoting them. Ireland believes that all European countries deserve the opportunity to join the EU, once they meet all necessary criteria. All candidate countries are currently required to abide by the accession criteria known as the "Copenhagen criteria" and are required to align with EU standards across all negotiating chapters.
The speed with which a candidate country implements necessary reforms to align with EU standards, in addition to securing agreement from all EU member states to progress, determines how quickly any candidate country can finalise accession negotiations and join the EU.
