Consultative Forum on International Security Policy

Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin recently announced his intention to convene the Consultative Forum on International Security Policy to start a discussion on Ireland’s foreign and security policy. The Forum is designed to build public understanding and generate discussions on our foreign, security, and defence policies.

It will focus on a wide range of issues, including Ireland’s efforts to protect the rules-based international order through peacekeeping and crisis management, disarmament and non-proliferation, international humanitarian law, and conflict prevention and peacebuilding as well as allowing for a discussion on Ireland’s policy of military neutrality.

The Forum will also provide an opportunity to examine the experiences and choices of other partners in responding to the new security environment in Europe.

It will be open, inclusive, and, as the name suggests, consultative. It will involve a wide range of stakeholders, with participation from civilian and military experts and practitioners representing a breadth of experience and views.

The Consultative Forum will take place in three different locations across four days in June 2023:

• 22 June at University College Cork
• 23 June at the University of Galway
• 26 and 27 June at Dublin Castle

Discussions will be live-streamed and there will be an opportunity for members of the public to make a submission to the forum via the gov.ie/consultation online submission service.

Everyone interested in engaging in the process is welcome to do so. Further information will be made available on this website shortly.

Read more information on the Consultative Forum on International Security Policy

Read the text of the Tánaiste’s speech to the Dáil on 18 May 2023 about the Consultative Forum.