Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-05
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

The reality of the situation is that the European Union is founded on the idea that people care about who lives and dies; people care about who lives. We can look at the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community. It was literally founded so that the coal and steel industries would be merged so you could not make weapons to fight against each other. That is literally why the European Union was made
One of the people who was responsible for the founding of the European Union, to Senator Mullen's point, was Robert Schuman. He is now on the road to sainthood within the Catholic Church. The idea there is some unchristian agenda within the European Union needs to be totally knocked on the head. That was a process started by Pope Francis.
I certainly do not agree with the idea the European Union is moving away from the Christian democratic tradition and I will mention the thing about the my voice, my choice initiative. The European bishops welcomed the decision of the European Commission about this. Senator Mullen disagrees with it. They raised some of the concerns he raised but they actually welcomed the decision. We need to look at all aspects of this particular issue. The other side welcomed it too. I thought that obviously, some kind of compromise was reached that everybody was happy with, which is extraordinary in that debate. I pay tribute to the European Union that it can get the people advocating that campaign and the Catholic bishops to guardedly welcome it. The Union has done something to bring people together.
On peace and Ukraine, I will be visiting Ukraine for St. Patrick's Day. It will not be for celebration or presenting shamrock to anybody but simply as a symbol of our support for Ukraine, particularly as we go into the Presidency. You can literally drive from here to Ukraine if you wish to and many Ukrainians have done so. Yes, we have given a huge amount of humanitarian aid but if Ukraine does not get the military equipment it needs and that Sinn Féin wants to refuse it, there will be no one left to get humanitarian aid. They will be killed. They will die. The type of military support we are giving is defensive and to prevent them from being killed and dying and to stop missiles hitting apartment blocks or blocks of flats, as I saw personally when I was there. They were not coming into military installations or Government buildings, they were hitting blocks of apartments like those that are all around Senator Andrews's area.
That is what the European Union is paying for - Ireland is not directly paying for it. The European Union is funding this loan to Ukraine to allow them to live.
This is because we care who lives. We care that the people of Ukraine live and survive to receive some of the humanitarian aid that we are giving.
In relation to the agenda ahead of us over the coming months, the Common Agricultural Policy, the long-term budget of the EU, is very important to us. That is on my desk, working with the Ministers for agriculture and finance, and the Taoiseach, who will ultimately conclude negotiations. We are working to make sure it is as strong as possible for us and that the European budget gives value for money for every European. We and the European Union have been focused on protecting food supplies because of that establishment of the European Union post the Second World War. Rural development is also being prioritised. We have seen many good examples of that. Let us be honest: rural Ireland is thriving. Population levels are increasing in most of rural Ireland. I saw statistics the other day that indicate urbanisation in Ireland has decreased, probably because rural Ireland is doing a lot better than many other rural areas.
Senator Noonan spoke about culture. Bhí a lán daoine ag cur fáilte roimh stádas na Gaeilge i rith na hUachtaránachta. Beidh an Ghaeilge á húsáid ag Airí agus ag Státseirbhísigh. Tá córas sa Bhruiséil agus i Lucsamburg ina bhfuil grúpaí oibre, nó meithleacha mar a ghlaoimid orthu, a dhéanann a lán de na hidirbheartaíochta maidir leis na píosaí reachtaíochta atá le cur le chéile san Eoraip. Beidh roinnt de na cruinnithe nó meithleacha sin á reáchtáil trí Ghaeilge don chéad uair riamh. Is céim shuntasach í seo don Ghaeilge agus do stádas agus d’úsáid na Gaeilge. Tá súil agam go spreagann sé daoine le dul amach agus a gcuid Gaeilge a choimeád agus a chur chun cinn ionas gur féidir linn níos mó oibre a dhéanamh trí Ghaeilge mar is ceart dúinn a dhéanamh agus sinn ag obair ar son na tíre seo sa Bhruiséil, i Lucsamburg agus anseo in Éirinn i rith na hUachtaránachta freisin.
As Senator Noonan asked about culture, I will speak about the extensive cultural programme for our Presidency. It will show off the best of us and what we are known for. People across the European Union look forward to that.
Many Senators are in contact with local authorities and some of them mentioned the county pairing system. There is a fund there, the communicating Europe initiative, and I encourage local authorities to apply for funding to run events during the Presidency to communicate Europe and the Presidency. Local authorities can apply for that funding, but so too can community groups. These are small grants that could run a small festival, an exhibition or a talk. There are lots of ideas. In previous years, we have not been oversubscribed in respect of that funding. I encourage people to apply for that funding. It is important.
The North of Ireland is an important focus for me as part of the Presidency. Unfortunately, due to a decision of other people, mainly those in England and Wales, Northern Ireland was ripped out of the European Union. We worked really hard - I thank Senator Joe Conway for his remarks in respect of what the Irish Governments did at the time - to make the best of that terrible situation. Last week, I went to Queen's University Belfast to consult about the priorities for our Presidency, to talk to the people there about the Presidency, to listen to their questions and to engage with them about the Presidency. It was important that I did that. I am sure there will be other engagements in advance of the Presidency. We keep the North of Ireland and the citizens who live there in our minds. The fact that the North of Ireland is part of the Single Market for goods is very important. This year, we expect significant progress on EU-UK relations, which will make things easier in the North of Ireland, and here as well, in respect of the import and export of food products in particular. That will have a major beneficial effect. There will also be an effect in the electricity market, which is very important, on an all-Ireland basis. The North of Ireland will be very much a part of our focus. It is unfortunate, although there is nothing I can do about it, that it is not a part of the European Union any more. Those citizens live there. I constantly remind people that while the North of Ireland may not be a part of the European Union, there are hundreds of thousands of European Union citizens living there. They are certainly very much in our minds.
Senator Noonan raised the COP summits. There are two, namely, the climate summit and the biodiversity summit. This again is a major point of pride for Irish Ministers. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will do the climate summit and I think the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, will do the biodiversity summit, working on the behalf of the European Union. It is a huge responsibility. The relevant Departments have put together big teams to prepare the process at EU level and to prepare for the work at the conferences. For example, at the climate summit in Türkiye, Ireland provides the physical infrastructure for those EU meetings. Our preparation of resources involves a document management system to co-ordinate the large volume of position papers. We get involved in those types of practical matters, as well as being the people on the ground. We will also host the EU's team of negotiators for the UN climate COP here in Ireland in July, as well as a second meeting of expert groups preparing the conference on the environment meeting. Environment ministers will also meet in Ireland in advance to discuss the preparations. Our Ministers go over and meet the teams over there. That will be an important moment for us.
The issue of energy has been raised. It is important. That is the focus not just this week but in general. Work is ongoing at the European level to alleviate the situation that we in Europe find ourselves in, in general terms, and to make us more self-sufficient in relation to our energy so that we are not as prone to suffering the shocks of international geopolitical crises.

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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