European Union
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-09
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Niall Collins (FF), Limerick County

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.

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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/dail/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09