Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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187. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade whether he supports the view, as recently expressed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (details supplied), that simplification at EU level should equate to deregulation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56773/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Government strongly supports the EU’s competitiveness agenda. Simplification is a key enabler of this. Both the Letta and Draghi reports underlined the need to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden on EU companies, particularly SMEs.

The Government’s position has been consistent. Simplification has to be about better regulation, not deregulation, and should deliver outcomes that serve both business and consumers effectively. We need to focus on reducing the regulatory burden, while maintaining high ambition in terms of environmental protection, human health, and other standards.

At the EU level, we need to prioritise smarter, simpler and more streamlined regulations, in line with core better regulation principles and the inter-institutional agreement on better law-making, but with a sharper focus on outcomes.

Ireland continues to engage proactively in discussions on the EU’s simplification agenda. We welcome the six Omnibus packages proposed by the European Commission to date and the progress made. We look forward to future Omnibus packages, including the digital simplification package, which we expect to be published in November.