EU Programmes
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Eileen Lynch (FG), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister of State for his kind words and for taking this matter today. I appreciate that it is not within his Ministry. Nonetheless, I am quite disappointed with that reply. I am aware of the meeting with Ms Collier and Dr. Schön-Quinlivan. However, we are not looking for sponsorship, as the Department has outlined in the second page of the reply. We are not looking for an endorsement. All we are looking for is that schools be made aware that this resource is available. It seems absurd to me that a primary school funded programme cannot secure a basic level of support from our Ministers during the year of the EU Presidency we are hosting. It is not about sponsorship, funding or endorsement. It is simply about letting schools know that this resource is available.
I take the point on the Blue Star programme. It is an excellent programme. These two programmes are actually quite complementary, yet the way the Department of foreign affairs is putting it is that it is either-or. It most certainly is not. The Key to the EU and the Blue Star programmes can work together, hand in hand.
We have to be very mindful and careful of our position within the European Union when we look at the way in which politics across the Union is fragmenting and the global change we are facing. According to the most recent European Movement Ireland poll, while 82% of Irish people are happy to retain our membership, 26% do not feel that the EU is moving in the right direction, 28% do not know, 37% feel their views are not represented at a European level, and 27% of people do not know whether they are. There is a lack of education there. I take the point about Aistear and the point about the leaving certificate project but we need to do more. This is a resource that is free and that has been widely accredited at a European level. It is shameful if we cannot accredit it and acknowledge it here at a national level when it came from Ireland.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11