Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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809. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide an update on the significant preparatory work which will be undertaken in 2025 to further shape and programme Ireland's youth priorities for the EU Presidency, working closely with the youth leads in Ireland's trio partners and national stakeholders; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16758/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As part of preparations for the Presidency, officials in my Department have been engaging extensively with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) across several fora. Officials from my Department attend regular meetings of the Inter-Departmental Group on Presidency Policy Planning and the Inter-Departmental Group on Operational Presidency Planning. Both groups are chaired by DFAT and comprise senior officials from all government departments. Furthermore, officials from my Department have held a number of bilateral meetings with DFAT to discuss planning for the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport (EYCS) Council meetings and working group meetings in respect of youth policy.

As part of preparations for the Presidency of the Council of the EU, members of my Department’s Management Board visited Brussels in November 2024 to meet with officials in the EU Commission, including from the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, representatives of the European Youth Forum, and the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU. They also met with officials who worked on the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU during H1 2024.

On 26 March 2025, my officials met with colleagues from Ireland’s trio partners, Lithuania and Greece, as well as the European Commission, European Youth Forum and the National Youth Councils of the trio partners to discuss shared goals and agree next steps in preparation for Ireland’s EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2026.

Throughout the course of 2025, Ministerial officials from the trio partners, in cooperation with the European Commission, will begin drafting an explanatory note which will set out the themes and the timeline of the 12th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue.

In addition, officials will finalise the topics of the Council Conclusion texts to be introduced to the Youth Working Party during Ireland’s EU Council Presidency. These topics will be finalised later this year and the drafting of the Council Conclusion documents will begin in early 2026.

A preliminary set of youth goals for the 12th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue has been agreed by the trio partners. European Youth Goal #4: Information and Constructive Dialogue and European Youth Goal #9: Space and Participation for All. These youth goals reflect Ireland’s commitment to ensuring young people have improved access to reliable information, supporting their ability to evaluate information critically and engaging in participatory and constructive dialogue, and to more physical spaces in their communities to support their personal, cultural and political development.

My officials will continue to engage further with all youth stakeholders both at a national and European level as we prepare for Ireland’s EU Council Presidency.