Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

180. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence for a report on his attendance at the informal meeting of EU Defence Ministers on 2-3 April 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17690/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, due to national commitments, I was unable to attend the Informal Meeting of EU Defence Ministers which took place in early April. Ireland was, on this occasion, represented by the Secretary General of the Department of Defence, Ireland's Ambassador to the Political and Security Committee of the EU and Department officials. I am happy to report on the meeting however, which sent an important signal of EU support for Ukraine.

There were two items on the agenda, one covering the EU's enhanced Military Support to Ukraine and the second dealing with the recently published Joint White Paper for European Defence - Readiness 2030 from the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Policy.

In relation to support to Ukraine, participants were invited to discuss the EU’s enhanced military support and possible security guarantees to Ukraine in light of the latest political and military developments. An exchange of views on the High Representative’s initiative for enhanced military support to Ukraine, opportunities for deepening cooperation between EU’s and the Ukrainian defence industrial base and Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who attended by VTC for that item.

At the working lunch on the White Paper, participants were invited to have an exchange of views on concrete deliverables with regard to addressing the critical capability gaps identified by Member States and highlighted in the paper. The Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, attended this session.