2026-07-09

There is little doubt about the positivity we associate with membership of the European Union. Some 82% of Irish people favour membership of the European Union, the highest rate of approval of any European state. However, a lot of people talk down the European Union in the public discourse, suggesting that it is somehow a bad thing or that it does not do things the way they would want it to. I would join with them on certain matters. No multinational organisation like the EU is ever going to be perfect. It will never do everything I would want it to and it will never satisfy me in every respect. However, on the whole, we are very lucky to be part of the European Union. The Ireland of 1972 or 1973, before we joined what was then the European Economic Community, was a wholly different country from the Ireland of today. To look at it from a purely economic standpoint, the value of being part of the Single Market is enormous. In 1973, we imported €340 million more in goods than we exported. In recent times, we have had an export surplus. We have exported more than €53 billion more than we have imported. While we cannot assess these things only in terms of economics, GDP per capita has increased, living conditions have improved, the rate of employment has increased and the value of our economy has increased. On consumer and workers' rights, many of the rights that employees in this country enjoy were handed down from the European Commission. Ireland was sitting around the table for those discussions, but they were still handed down. Health and safety rights have also come from the European Union. There are people alive in this country because laws put in place by the European Union prevented them from dying in workplace accidents. Our membership of the European Union has had benefits in terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The European Union gave us support in achieving stability in Northern Ireland. It has also given us freedom of movement, the opportunity to travel around Europe without restrictions. Last year, more than 10,000 Irish students went abroad on the Erasmus+ programme. The list goes on and on, but some people will tell you that being part of the European Union is a bad thing. As we hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU and are at the heart of Europe, leading the agenda and setting the tone in respect of our priorities during the Presidency, what is the Government doing to communicate to Irish people just how lucky we are to be part of the European Union? I do not say that as propaganda, although I have no doubt that some will accuse me of doing so. The objective figures do not lie. You can find fault with the European Union. Elected representatives in this country will often say that Brussels is imposing something on us or that Europe is forcing us to do something else. Let us not forget that we are Europe. When decisions are made in Brussels, our Ministers sit around the table. Our MEPs sit in the Parliament, making those decisions. Let us not abdicate responsibility for politically unpopular decisions, which are still the right decisions, made at European level with the involvement of Irish people. What is the Irish Government doing to communicate to Irish people in clear and unequivocal terms that we are lucky to be part of the European Union and that the benefits we get from our membership are unparalleled among those arising from forces that have an impact on the quality of life in this country? What programmes will the Government put in place to counter some of the stuff online, which is not true and is inaccurate? If we do not fill that space, others will. They will fill it with misinformation and disinformation that will convince people that being part of the European Union is a bad idea when, as I said, every objective measure shows the opposite.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I welcome the opportunity to address how we can further increase public participation and interest in the European Union. Our current six-month term of Presidency of the Council of the European Union is a unique opportunity to engage with people across Ireland and the European Union. It is our priority to ensure that the Presidency is experienced by all citizens and communities across Ireland. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, earlier this year set out her intention to maximise 2026 for a genuine reflection and sustained conversation on Ireland's enduring place in the European Union. The Government wants to foster a national conversation on Europe to consider Ireland's membership of the Union and what it means to people today. We believe that EU membership is about being aware of the advantages of membership and making sure these are understood by the public. We want to encourage the Irish public to participate in that national conversation. Alongside the formal Presidency programme, a nationwide outreach and engagement initiative is connecting people across Ireland with the work of the European Union and Ireland's European role. This includes local events, educational initiatives, cultural exchange and community partnerships. The programme is designed to make the Presidency visible, accessible and relevant to people of all ages and backgrounds. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, also recently announced the successful grantees for the communicating Europe initiative 2026. This provides funding to voluntary organisations, educational bodies and civil society groups. The focus of projects this year is on Ireland's 2026 Presidency as well as the related county pairings programme. This pairs counties with an EU member state, encouraging communities across the country to engage directly with their European partners throughout the Presidency term. We also want to strongly focus on young people and efforts to engage with them are at the heart of the Presidency outreach programme. Some of the efforts include a range of resources and activities that have been developed to help children and young people better understand the European Union, Ireland's Presidency priorities and the importance of European co-operation in everyday life. As part of this work, a children's book on Ireland’s EU Presidency priorities is being produced and will encourage young readers to engage with the work of the Presidency and Ireland’s priorities in an accessible way. It will be online, with copies distributed to sixth class students across the country in September of 2026. Additional resources aimed at secondary school students and young people aged 15 to 18 are also being developed to support active citizenship and participation during the Presidency period. Another important way the Government aims to increase public participation and interest in the work of the European Union is through its EU jobs strategy. The strategy, A Career for EU, aims to improve Irish participation and success rates in EU recruitment processes for institutions such as the European Commission, the European Parliament and over 50 EU agencies. It responds to projected shortfalls of Irish staff arising from high levels of recruitment among senior and long-serving Irish officials combined with insufficient recruitment at entry and mid-management grades. The strategy has three focus areas promoting EU careers in Ireland, particularly within the education system and professions, providing training and support for Irish candidates and advocating for reform of the EU recruitment processes. Outreach and awareness raising have expanded significantly, with third level careers events alone estimated to have reached approximately 30,000 students in 2025. Hundreds of Irish candidates received targeted training supports across multiple EU recruitment competitions including EU-specific practice materials and interview preparations. Ireland also continues to work with like-minded member states on structural reforms including supporting the European Parliament's defence of nationally based competitions before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

I acknowledge all of the factors the Minister of State set out. I welcome them all and it is really important that we spread that message. The second part of the Minister of State's response is really important and that is the EU jobs part. I would not necessarily limit it just to the European Union. There are other international institutions within Europe where there is a transmissibility between them and the European institutions. As Chair of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs, I visited Luxembourg earlier this year with some colleagues. What is apparent is that there has been a lag in the number of Irish people applying for jobs, and that there are people at the higher levels of management within European institutions who are now coming to retirement and there are not people in the middle level to fill their positions. It is really important, not from the point of view of influence but from the point of view of presence, that there are Irish people around the table when decisions are being made so that the Irish perspective is understood and heard. The Minister of State made reference to the supports that have been given to people applying for jobs within the European Union. I think we need to formalise that and I have called for this before. We need to push it further than that. We need to have a dedicated unit within the Department of foreign affairs or elsewhere that does not just advertise the jobs and make sure people know about the opportunities that are available, but also explains to them what that package entails because it is not just about pay. It is about conditions and the other things that come with it. It is about what working for a European institution entails, and then also goes that step further of properly preparing them for the jobs. I understand we are not in first place in terms of European Union countries in doing that. Other countries are much more proactive about placing their citizens in an advantageous position as they apply for those jobs. One of the key things we can do to involve the citizens of this country in the opportunities that Europe presents, in addition to all the things I said earlier, is to allow, encourage and enable them to apply for and obtain jobs within European institutions that can then help present Irish perspectives but also share the benefits with the people in this country.

The strategy I referred to, A Career for EU, is delivering results. Ireland has 43 permanent officials at key entry grades in the European Commission as of December 2025. That is up from 30 in 2022. A total of 1,733 Irish people applied to the AD5 competition, which is the first large-scale graduate recruitment competition since 2019, placing Ireland tenth out of the 27 member states on a per capita basis. In January of 2026, Dr. Lorraine Nolan took up office as the executive director of the European Union Drugs Agency. That makes her the third Irish national currently leading an EU agency. There is a lot going on in that space but the points the Deputy raised are very relevant and pertinent. It is certainly something we are going to seek to keep prioritising.