Joe Conway (Independent)

I feel that I am in a midlanders’ get-together today. It is the first time I have had the pleasure to meet face to face with the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, who I think hails from Ballinacarrigy, County Westmeath. Am I right? I am. It is not too far down the road from the village of Ardagh, County Longford, where I was born and raised, and from Colehill, where I lived for a little while. Of course, I also see Senator Flaherty here from Longford, who is another doughty character in the Seanad.

I will get down to business. Ireland is confronting a significant decline in its staffing representation in European Union institutions, a trend that poses a threat to its influence and the status of the Irish language itself at European Union level.Approximately one third of Irish officials in EU roles are expected to retire by next year, 2026, yet the pipeline for replacements is seriously deleterious to efforts to deal with this attrition rate. For every four Irish officials retiring from high-ranking Commission positions, only one has succeeded in passing the EU recruitment process. This shortage is particularly acute among Irish-language professionals. Since our language achieved full official and working status in the EU in 2022, there has been a surge in demand for Irish-language interpreters, translators and lawyer-linguists. However, our European Union institutions report a critical shortage of qualified Irish-language professionals. As the Minister of State and the Members know well, the recruitment process for EU civil service roles is rigorous and requires proficiency in at least two EU languages with a third language often necessary. For Irish-speaking roles, total fluency rather than just proficiency in both Irish and English is essential. The pool of candidates who possess perfect Irish and another EU language to a high level as well as the requisite skills, which often include legal qualifications, and who are willing to relocate to Brussels is exceedingly small. It is a lot of qualifications. We are probably talking about a figure in the low double digits, approximately 10%.

Our Government's policy compounds this problem. Irish civil servants have been denied the opportunity to take up EU roles on secondment, forcing candidates to decline positions for which they are well qualified. Moreover, the Government has not implemented strategic initiatives to upskill individuals to take up these roles such as promoting secondment from the existing ranks of the Civil Service or training Irish speakers in a third EU language. This lack of strategic foresight risks an irreversible erosion of Ireland's influence at EU level. That is particularly true in the wake of Brexit. I contend that this has already diminished Ireland's soft power in Brussels. The Government's recent failure to nominate both a male and female candidate for the role of EU Commissioner, despite the Commission's request, has further damaged the State's credibility.

As Ireland prepares to assume the EU Presidency in 2026, this diminishing presence in the EU institutions reflects poorly on the nation's commitment to and presence in the EU. After these sins of omission, as we once called them in the catechism, what of our purpose of amendment? At the stroke of a pen, the Government could go some way towards alleviating the shortfall by enabling and promoting Civil Service secondments to EU institutions and upskilling workers in EU languages. Why is the Government neglecting to do this basic work?