“Ireland 2026 – Looking towards our EU Presidency” - Remarks by the Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, Thomas Byrne

Global Ireland Summit, Dublin Castle, 6 May 2025

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Is cúis mór áthas domsa bheith anseo libh inniu i gCaisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath ag an chomhdáil seo.

Tá clár lán agus suimiúil ann don chomhdháil, agus tá mé an-sásta go bhfuil deis agam labhairt inniu faoi ghné thábhachtach de ról domhanda na hÉireann: ár nUachtaránacht ar Chomhairle an Aontais Eorpaigh an bhliain seo chugainn.

Good morning, everyone.

I am delighted to join you all for today’s Global Ireland Conference.

It has been said that diplomacy is about making it through the next century, not just through the next media cycle.

So, I welcome the opportunity that today offers us, to take some time to reflect on Ireland’s place in the world, and to discuss the contribution that we can make in future.

Ireland’s EU Presidency

In considering the contribution we make to Europe, I want to take the opportunity today to look ahead to next year: to 1 July 2026.

On that date, Ireland will take on the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, for the eighth time.

Our Presidency will provide an important opportunity for Ireland to lead, and to shape, the work of the EU.

Over six months, Irish Ministers will chair many dozens of formal meetings of the Council, in Brussels and in Luxembourg, and host informal meetings of EU Ministers, here in Ireland.

We expect to host Heads of State and Government, from across Europe, at a meeting of the European Political Community – which will be the largest international meeting, at that level, ever held in Ireland.

Overall, we expect to host more than 230 Presidency events, in Ireland.

In Brussels, Irish officials will chair more than 170 Council preparatory bodies, committees and working groups.

Ireland will lead the Council’s engagement with the European Parliament, and work with the Parliament, to negotiate and agree new EU legislation.

And we will lead and coordinate the representation of the EU at several major international conferences, where our work will have a truly global impact.

All Ministers and many hundreds of public servants, across our government departments and agencies, will contribute directly to the delivery of our Presidency role.

It’s fair to say we have a lot of work to do.

It will be a big task.

But we are determined to do it well – and I have every confidence, that we will do it well.

The Programme for Government has set out very clearly our commitment to resource and deliver a successful Presidency.

We will invest the efforts, the resources – and put in the hard work – that an effective Presidency needs.

The Taoiseach has made it clear that our Presidency will be:

“a Presidency defined by action”

By working with our partners across Europe to deliver on an ambitious Presidency agenda in 2026, we will ensure that Ireland’s position, influence and reputation in the EU is maintained and enhanced.

Geopolitical challenges

Ireland’s Presidency will come at a crucial time for the European Union.

We will be charged with advancing the Union’s agenda against an increasingly complex geopolitical background.

Our Union and its Member States face real and tangible threats – threats, that in many ways, are more imminent and more severe, than at any time since Ireland joined the EEC in 1973.

Ireland will steer the agenda of a Union which is – rightly – more ambitious in its plans for collective action than ever before.

And because the challenges Europe faces today have many complex dimensions, the tools we need to respond to those challenges are in turn, more complex.

Our agenda for the Presidency in 2026 will be a full one, and a demanding one.

The process of defining our priorities for 2026, and the policy programme that we will seek to take forward at Council level, is underway.

Our approach will be to focus on those areas where we feel we can make the most effective contribution, and where we can advance a positive policy agenda, for the Union and its citizens.

Communicating Europe

It is clear from recently conducted polls that most Irish people believe that we have benefitted from our EU membership.

But we cannot take that positivity for granted and we cannot be complacent.

I believe it is imperative that we continue to challenge ourselves in asking, how all of us can – most effectively – communicate Europe.

It is incumbent on us to move beyond acronyms and institution-speak, and find ways to bring home the realities, and benefits, of our EU membership to communities across Ireland.

In advance of our EU Presidency, I intend to visit every constituency in Ireland and engage with local communities, to communicate what our EU Presidency means, and how the EU works for its citizens.

Preparations by the department are already underway for these visits, and I will also lead a programme of stakeholder engagement, designed to contribute to our policy programme for the Presidency.

Enlargement

In Ireland, we know first-hand the transformative change that membership of our Union can bring.

We have always been, and will remain, a strong supporter of EU enlargement for all candidate countries, in the East and in the Western Balkans.

We want to see candidate countries seize the increased momentum in the enlargement process, and we are stepping up to help them do that.

Recently, I returned from an official visit to Ukraine, during which I visited both Odesa and Kyiv.

In truth, it was a humbling experience, but it was also a visit that gave me hope for Ukraine’s future, as it continues its journey on the EU path.

Despite the barbaric attacks launched by Russia on the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian people and their government, remain resilient and resolved.

Ukraine sees its future as one which is European.

And despite Russia’s illegal and unjustified invasion, the work of the Ukrainian government and parliament continues, as they work towards deeper European integration.

Their determination and resilience is inspiring, and we stand with them, in their EU aspirations.

Later this year, the Irish Government looks forward to opening new Embassies in three candidate countries: Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldova.

This is a very concrete demonstration of our commitment to EU enlargement.

And it is a recognition of the prominence that work on enlargement, is likely to have on the agenda of the Council, during our Presidency.

EU Budget

A central aspect of our work, during our Presidency, will relate to the negotiation of the next Multiannual Financial Framework.

In preparing that budgetary framework, the EU will be setting out an ambitious collective agenda, for how we want to develop Europe for the next decade.

We know that EU Member States want a Multiannual Financial Framework that reflects the needs of citizens, maintains continuity and predictability, and delivers on the overall ambition of fostering a competitive and secure Europe.

Ireland will play our role in steering negotiations towards that objective.

Competitiveness

Another major focus of work at EU level, in the time ahead, will be on enhancing European competitiveness.

With our European partners, we will work to close the innovation gap.

We have been engaging intensively on the new Commission’s proposals, which build on the analysis, in the Letta and Draghi reports.

We also consider a properly functioning Single Market, particularly for services, to be fundamental to Europe’s long-term competitiveness.

Cutting red-tape, making business simpler, and addressing the regulatory burdens faced by SME’s, will be critical to delivering prosperity for our citizens.

Ireland expect to make a substantial contribution to the competitiveness agenda during our Presidency.

Security and Defence

I am conscious that when Ireland found itself in the eye of the Brexit storm, EU member states farthest away from our own borders, and all those in-between, never wavered in their solidarity for Ireland.

At this crucial juncture for Europe, and as we look ahead to our EU presidency, Ireland must demonstrate that same solidarity with our European neighbours, in understanding their urgent needs when it comes to security and defence.

I know that we can do this in a way that recognises the ambitions and needs of other member states, but without undermining, our own position of military neutrality.

Too frequently, investment in our own security and defence capabilities has been presented as a binary choice, between whether one is in favour of Ireland remaining militarily neutral or not.

We need to move away from this false dichotomy.

Defending our critical infrastructure is a prime example of where our security and defence priorities must lie, at both national, and EU level.

We cannot stand on the sidelines at this critical juncture.

I can assure all of our EU partners that our EU Presidency will accommodate and reconcile the needs, perspectives and priorities of our fellow member states, and that includes the security and defence of our European Union.

So, in 2026, Ireland will be asked to step up and lead major aspects of the Union’s work – and to ensure that the EU serves the interests of all its members, large and small, new and old.

During our Presidency, we will focus on progressing a shared European agenda.

We will have less of an opportunity than we normally do to speak with our national voice, and to advocate strongly for our own distinct national positions and interests.

But we will have a greater opportunity – greater than ever – to advance one of our most fundamental national interests:

ensuring that we have a European Union that works for all its Member States, accommodates their needs, reconciles their perspectives and priorities, and channels our collective efforts to build for European citizens the future that they deserve.

There is a big challenge ahead for us.

But Ireland knows how to work with our partners across Europe to deliver a successful and impactful Presidency, and in 2026, that is exactly what we will do.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.