Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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100. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the preparations that are ongoing in relation to Ireland's forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57156/25]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Will the Tánaiste give us an update on the preparations for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council next year?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ward for this question, all his work as an Oireachtas Chairperson in this area and the genuine passion and interest I know he has in it.

As colleagues will know, Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the eighth time from next July until December 2026. Preparations are well under way, led by my Department in close co-ordination with the Department of the Taoiseach and with the active participation of all Departments across the Government. This is and must be truly a whole-of-government effort. I briefed the Government earlier today on progress in our preparations, including the planning of our policy approach, and the practical and operational preparations that are under way to ensure the delivery of a successful Presidency next year. Work is ongoing to develop the priorities and the policy programme for Ireland's Presidency. This programme will be prepared against the backdrop of the EU's strategic agenda 2024-29 and the legislative work programme of the European Commission. It will also be shaped by our own priorities in relation to the European Union.

The Government is consulting with other EU member states and stepping up our engagement with the EU institutions as this process of programme development continues. Our policy programme will be finalised and published shortly before the start of our Presidency term.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that stakeholder groups in Ireland have their voices heard. My Department is preparing a series of consultation meetings with stakeholders from across civil society, business and other groups. A call for written submissions will also be launched in the coming weeks. This will ensure that all interested parties have the opportunity to have their say on the development of our Presidency priorities.

Work is also under way to prepare the programme of meetings to be hosted in Ireland during the Presidency. These will include a summit of the European Political Community, an informal meeting of the European Council and 22 informal ministerial meetings. Overall, we can expect to host more than 250 Presidency events here.

The Government has made a firm commitment to resource and deliver a successful Presidency. I am confident that in 2026 Ireland will be able to make a significant and positive contribution in leading the EU's agenda and shaping the future of our Union.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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We have a very good history of having strong, well-organised and productive Presidencies in this country, and I look forward to the same thing next year. I particularly welcome what the Tánaiste has said about the public consultation around the priorities for the Presidency. That is very welcome and very important. Could he give us details of how the public will have an opportunity to contribute to that? Obviously, it will be done at national level, but will it be done also in schools, for example? Many children around the country will be seeing an Irish Presidency for the first time. What steps will we take to ensure that their teachers know about it, that they have an opportunity to feed into it and that their ideas are included in the considerations for those priorities as well as the cultural agenda that we will have during the second six months of next year?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am really glad the Deputy raises this because I raise it all the time. There has to be and there will be a focus on schools. It is really important that this Presidency involve all the people of Ireland, most particularly the next generation of committed Europeans in this country. That opportunity, as the Deputy says, to expose young people to the first Presidency they will have lived through from their own country is really important. I have already had conversations with the Minister for Education and Youth about what a legacy for our schools could look like. I do not want to pre-empt that but we have seen in the past how we have done things like the commemoration of 1916 and how a legacy was left to our schools. We need to consider that, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is working on that. There are also, as part of the stakeholder engagement, a number of planned engagements with schools directly by both me and the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Byrne. There will be stakeholder meetings, there will be written consultation and those stakeholder meetings will be across the generations and in a whole variety of settings.

Finally, the cultural programme being developed by the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, will also be an important part of this and a real opportunity to showcase Irish culture during those six months.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I look forward to that as well.

One of the important things we will look at during our Presidency is the multi-annual financial framework, a really important body of work to be done during the Presidency. Are there any specific preparations for that?

Second, as regards the enlargement agenda, there are many accession countries looking to become part of the European Union. Many of them feel that the enlargement process by the Commission has somewhat stalled. I know the Commission would not agree with that terminology, but the reality is that we have not had an accession since 2013. Many countries - I am thinking particularly of places like Montenegro - are very advanced in their negotiations and ready to do a deal. Will there be a possibility for us to be prepared to do that deal during our Presidency?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I think a lot of the work around the multi-annual financial framework will fall to our Presidency. That is why we have taken a decision as an Irish Government to get our own priorities into the Commission in advance of that Presidency. Of course, when you take up the Presidency, you assume a role as an honest broker. I expect that to be a very busy period.

I am glad the Deputy brought up enlargement. I met yesterday with the Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova after the conclusive pro-European outcome to its parliamentary elections, following on from the similar pro-European result in its presidential election.

I also met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro and with representatives of a number of western Balkan states in Hillsborough Castle as part of the Berlin conference about two weeks ago. It is really important that we show people there is a path and if they have been knocking on the door for years, they can actually get in, particularly if they are meeting all the criteria. Enlargement will be a priority of the Irish Presidency. A number of countries, including Montenegro and Albania, could well make significant progress during that time. We are very supportive of advancing, as the Deputy knows, Ukrainian and indeed Moldovan accession, just to name a few countries. There probably is not a more pro-enlargement country in the European Union than Ireland.