2026-05-21

This week we remember Garret FitzGerald, 15 years on from his death, and 2026 marks 100 years since his birth. I think we can all agree that the leadership he showed has shaped our national identity. We are a more tolerant, inclusive and open society because of him. We are also a country that embraces our European identity because of him. He was central to our own European integration story, which laid the foundations for our success. I am glad that the ambition Garret had for this country in Europe is still evident in our approach today. An Irish Times headline following Ireland's previous EU Presidency under Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that the EU Presidency displayed the best of what Ireland can offer. This time we have been tasked with advancing a transformative EU agenda and we can again display the best we have to offer. Many of our priorities are worthy in themselves but can seem distant to many people on the ground. It is important to highlight the practical benefits of what Ireland can do during the Presidency. For example, the digital omnibus package is due to be finalised during our EU Presidency. This simplification agenda will be felt by employers and employees across the country. It should have knock-on economic effects that will ultimately see more and better jobs created in this country. Initiatives like the savings and investments union will have similarly practical benefits. Businesses will have more capital available and over time as a result, we will see more companies scale up and stay in Ireland with more jobs created here. Working towards the ratification of trade deals will also be an important element of the Minister’s work during the Presidency. Everyone in Ireland, a small open economy that has been transformed by foreign direct investment, FDI, knows that these trade deals provide tangible benefits, more employment, more tax revenue to fund public services and a more diverse country. Making this work relevant to people's daily lives is difficult but worthwhile. People need to know why the European project is so important to them and to Ireland. The EU Presidency presents an opportunity for renewal in our EU membership. To maintain the practical impact of the Presidency, I would like to ask the Minister about her engagements with stakeholders in Dublin city. As we know, 30,000 delegates are expected to travel to Ireland over a six-month period. For example, the AI summit will take place in November which I am particularly interested in, as the vice chair of the AI committee. In the preparations for the EU Presidency, has there been engagement with Dublin City Council, business representative groups and other stakeholders on the logistical challenges and the opportunity that hosting the Presidency brings to Dublin? It would be remiss of me not to mention the Silk Road Café, which is facing potential closure as a result of the Presidency. I know that is not a message that we would like to send out from the Presidency.

The Presidency offers three key opportunities and three key priorities for me. I also acknowledge the role Garret FitzGerald played not only in this country, but also when it comes to our position and the benefits that we have seen from the European Union over many years. This Presidency offers an opportunity to restate that. I grew up in a time where I have only known the European Union with the ability to live, to work, to study and to travel across the EU. We sometimes take that for granted. We have an opportunity to engage with students in our schools and universities to highlight the benefits we have seen from the European Union, including everything from the significant investment in our infrastructure to CAP funding to the fact that we now have plugs that everybody can use in the same way in all countries. All of this matters for people. This is also about showing that we can share and steer the really big matters that Europe is facing and the opportunities that come with. We set out three priority areas that we want to focus on: competitiveness, security and values. The Deputy homed in on many of the areas under competitiveness. We want to make sure that not just Ireland but Europe as a whole remains competitive because it is good for business, good for consumers and good for the economy. It means we can reinvest in our society in all the areas we want to invest in. The Deputy mentioned various different measures and it is really important to make it relevant to people. What are we talking about when we say competitiveness? We are introducing measures that will quite literally make it easier for businesses to set up in Ireland, which can then set up in France and do the same kind of business there without having to jump through hoops. We want to make it easier for more finance to be available to business and industry. We want to make sure that we have a strategic plan for the really important sectors, such as pharma, medical devices and life sciences in particular, which is crucial to our economy. We are looking to see how we can have a more strategic plan for the sector in the time ahead where we remove what is sometimes arduous regulation without reducing our standards. We need to make sure that innovation is not stifled and that we allow it to grow. Importantly we will be negotiating the overall figure for the next budget. A key priority for us is to ensure our farmers and those in our agriculture community get a strong CAP budget and that we have money for many other areas as well, including Northern Ireland and the peace process. We will also be focused on ways in which we can support young people through Horizon funding and the Erasmus programme. The Minister, Deputy Patrick O’Donovan, is bringing forward ideas on how we can provide a safer space online for young people. At the beginning of our Presidency, Commissioner Von der Leyen will set out a number of options that Europe will move on to try to make the online space safer for young people. These are some of the practical things we will be doing during the Presidency and much more. Beyond that, as the Deputy said, thousands of people will come to Ireland. We will have 22 informal ministerial meetings and about 370 associated and official events that are linked to that. All of this means people coming to Dublin and rest of Ireland, investing in our cities and seeing what we have to offer. Through these meetings there is a chance to show them culturally who we are and what we stand for. The engagement the Deputy mentioned is happening with Dublin City Council and with businesses around the city. I appreciate we need to do more in that regard.

It is good that the Government has set values as a key priority in this Presidency because we often take our membership in the European Union for granted. To some extent, we actually might take for granted the population’s support of our membership of the European Union. In countries where governments withdraw their support for the EU, we see the relief that is felt from the population when another government comes in that is closer to the EU. We saw this most recently in Hungary with people waving European flags on the streets. We need to remind people that European values are our values. A rules-based environment is better for all of us, particularly in the world we currently live in. The AI Act is a very good reflection of that. No other global power, including China and the United States, is trying to regulate the introduction of AI to the same extent that Europe is to protect people against the risks that AI poses but also to ensure we get the benefits of the innovation that AI can bring. I am very heartened to hear the priorities.

The Deputy is right that it is about trying to get that balance. In every decision we take we have to think of our core European values, our fundamental principles and why we do what we do. It is to make life better for all of the people that we represent, our citizens in Ireland and across the EU. We have seen a lot of backsliding in certain countries. Elections are taking place at the moment and I am concerned about some of the outcomes of the elections where we have heard very clear not just rhetoric but pronouncements from potential incoming governments, as happened previously in Hungary over the years. We are lucky that in Ireland the overall support for the EU has remained strong but there are many reasons not to be complacent. We just talked about what is happening in Gaza and the Middle East and the fact that Europe needs to do more and be stronger. We need to make sure that those types of decisions and that type of focus remain on the agenda during our Presidency. I can assure the Deputy of that. Coming to the final priority area of security, we also need to make sure that we are working together to respond to what are new and emerging challenges we have not seen in the many decades of our membership of the European Union. It is about our physical security and protecting citizens but also our economic security, which is essential if we want to do all the other things I have outlined.