Post European Council Meeting: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-22
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

There is a very exciting agenda ahead of us during our Presidency on what is called the one market approach. I have a copy of it here that was given to member states last night. There is a list of items there. At the last count - it may have changed overnight - there were 42 items in that to help bring the Single Market to reality and to give us greater economic prospects. Some 17 of those were slated to be organised, done or agreed during our Presidency. We will wait and see what the leaders agree. It is a big challenge for us, the European Parliament and everybody to bring these measures in in the timeframe proposed. At the same time, if we were to do so, we would have a transformed economy that would be much more resilient to economic shocks. It would enable greater opportunities for the Deputy's constituents and all of our constituents to prosper and for the Single Market to be brought to a reality. We would be able to trade and buy products and services from across the European Union in a way that we are not at the moment. There is a huge opportunity now and I am happy to update the Dáil as this goes along.
There is also a lot of work going to take place in Brussels between the governments and in the European Parliament, where our MEPs will be working hard on lots of files but especially these ones over the next few months. We will engage with MEPs as well to try to make sure we get this agenda across. The Taoiseach said that this is going to be a Presidency defined by action and I think this agenda gives us plenty of action to carry out, which will result in serious and solid benefits for consumers and citizens right across the Union.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-22