Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-05 ============================================================ Garret Ahearn (FG), Administrative Panel I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber and thank him for coming in to speak about the upcoming EU Presidency. I do not think we can start a conversation about the EU Presidency without acknowledging our diplomats across the world and the officials working in the Department of foreign affairs. The work they do on a daily basis is very impressive. It makes us proud to be Irish when we go abroad, as Mary and I did in September, to see the professionalism of our diplomats right across the world. The work they are doing on this, in particular, is very important and it is good to see. This Presidency will be very different from the last one in 2013. At that time, we were coming out financial crisis and did not have an economy as strong as we have now. Decisions at that time had to be made to keep it as minimal as possible. Most of the meetings then were in Dublin Castle and were important nonetheless. The opportunities we have for this Presidency are much greater than those in 2013. The Minister of State spoke about all of the events that are due to happen. He said extensive work is under way for 270 EU Presidency events across the country over the six months, which is phenomenal. It is really welcome that the Government has decided to branch this out to the wider country. The Minister of State can correct me if I am wrong but I think it is planned to have about 25% of the meetings outside of Dublin. It is wonderful for other parts of the country to have really significant meetings with top people from the European Union. Obviously, that brings challenges from a security point of view for the Garda and the Army, but it is important to be able to show off the whole country and not just Dublin. As the Minister of State said, we are in a changing world. In his contribution he talked about how we will ensure the EU strengthens its role as a principal global actor which supports democracy, human rights and the international legal order with the UN at its centre. I ask him to expand on the types of things we will be doing. We will always have issues and priorities, but nothing at the moment is more important than defence and security for all EU countries. In previous days, there have been contributions in the Seanad suggesting that our defence and security coming up to our Presidency are not at the level they need to be. We need to remind people that there is no EU country that can single-handedly be secure and have enough defence on its own. Member states rely on allies and supports and Ireland is no different. The Minister of State gave the example of what happened in Cyprus last week. When we hold the Presidency we rely, as Cyprus does, on our neighbours and supporters to help us out, whether on land, at sea or through cybersecurity. We have a wonderful opportunity during our Presidency to learn from our past and our peace process over 28 years. There are so many conflicts happening around the world and so many people who do not see a solution to those conflicts. We were in a position 30 years ago where no one could see a solution to the conflict here and we have now had peace on this island for 28 years. We need to emphasise that when people feel there is no hope, whether that is the Palestine-Israel conflict, the current conflict in the Middle East or the Ukraine-Russia conflict, there is a pathway through good diplomacy to achieve peace. One of our strengths during the Presidency will be to emphasise again the power of soft diplomacy behind the scenes that can work really well. I know priorities will be announced in June, but another big issue for all European countries is online safety. It is an area we need to prioritise. The Digital Services Act is being implemented but that has limitations and this is a changing issue. It is something we can highlight and work on because it predominantly affects young people. The Minister of State stated that it is hoped that at the start of our EU Presidency, the negotiating clusters will have opened for some of the applicant countries. This is a brilliant opportunity for Ireland. We are one of the best examples in the European Union of the positive impact that joining the European Union can have on a state. Everyone can see the benefits across the country every day, whether it is driving on good roads or open markets and business. Joining the European Union presents so many opportunities and Ireland can play a key role in trying to speed up the process for those states that want to join, and those that need to join for their own security and benefit. During our Presidency, negotiations will take place on the Common Agricultural Policy, which is critical for our agriculture and food sector. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Heydon, will be hosting a lot of meetings. I think the agricultural committee will be involved. I heard during the week that there will be an EU agriculture summit of some kind. That is really important. This will be a challenging time given the reduction in the overall budget but we need to make sure our farming community is supported. In that context, I ask the Minister of State to say a few words on progressing a review, during our Presidency, of the Common Fisheries Policy because that has had a real impact and is a worry for people in Killybegs, Castletownbere and other fishing communities. We must make sure we have a fair quota going forward. Holding the Presidency gives us an opportunity to put pressure on in that regard. It is an exciting time to have the Presidency starting in July. There is an awful lot of work involved but there is so much we can get back from it. There is a lot of work being put into it and a lot of money being spent on it but the benefits that come back to this country are huge. I commend the Minister of State, his Department and the Government on the work they are doing to try to promote Ireland's best interests during the Presidency. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-05/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-05