The recent hiring of a former senior Meta lobbyist as an Irish Data Protection Commissioner has sparked some controversy in Brussels. But it is just the latest example of Ireland’s inability to read the room – any room – across the European Union institutions. While Ireland might try to characterise the appointment as a poacher-turned-gamekeeper scenario, the rest of the EU is more likely to view Ireland as doubling down on its incestuous relationship with US technology companies – a relationship frequently seen as prioritising US interests over the application of EU rules.
Our forthcoming presidency of the European Council will see official Ireland revel in the pageantry and photo ops of the six months from July 2026 – but it will also underline just how disconnected Ireland has become from the EU’s current balance of power.
Take one of the self-professed objectives of Ireland’s EU presidency – “ensuring that we have a European Union that works for all its member states, accommodates their needs, reconciles their perspectives and priorities, and channels our collective efforts to build for European citizens the future that they deserve”. This Junior Cert-level version of a vision for Europe is symptomatic of an Ireland that is totally directionless on EU affairs. We are devoid of a clear strategy, unable to focus on hard political issues and failing to evolve past our historic positioning as plucky (and previously poor) little Brexit underdogs. Ireland remains unwilling to develop a concept of the EU based on our own priorities, reflective of our geography, economic structure and very precarious wealth. We have no coherent vision to project in a positive, yet critical, way.
Instead, Ireland is seen to be doubling down on its own self-serving agenda – with the appointment of Niamh Sweeney as Data Protection Commissioner just the most recent example. This is an approach usually washed down with standardised speeches on how much we love Europe and how we are taking our European responsibilities seriously. Or, in the words of the Taoiseach, “We don’t get to sit on the sidelines.”
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Unfortunately, in the rest of Europe there is a growing realisation that this is a smoke and mirrors approach to EU affairs; we are saying the right things while doing nothing to really change policy.
While Ukraine fights for its life and the rest of Europe rearms, defence spending here – despite halfhearted Government protestations – remains minuscule. Irish waters and airspace are barely patrolled, except for British jets and ships scrambling to meet Russian threats. Ireland is in the middle of ordering a primary radar system, without any fighter jets to support it. Amazon just announced a new transatlantic subsea internet cable linking Cork to the US, yet the Naval Service can offer nothing to protect it. Things are so desperate that we’re asking the French for a spare warship to boost our air defences during the upcoming presidency.
To many Europeans this speaks of a deep hypocrisy, given Ireland’s self-professed love of the EU. And that’s not to mention the hypocrisy of the tens of billions of euro we continue to rake in from our facilitation of the dubious taxation policies of US multinationals.
On a whole raft of issues Ireland’s positions amount to a hot mess of uncoordinated gibberish.
Take our opposition to the Mercosur trade deal after Ireland banged on for decades about how freer trade has transformed our country. Even more ludicrous is that this position runs directly counter to the Irish Government’s recently launched Action Plan on Market Diversification.
And it’s not just Europe. In Washington, Ireland has become, said an oped in the Wall Street Journal, “one of those nations” that “reap the benefits of America’s economic strength and military protection while pursuing foreign policies that undermine American interests”.
Ireland is increasingly viewed as revelling in its love of the moral high ground, and our desire to be the greatest of humanitarians. This perception is strengthened – rightly or wrongly – by the results of the recent presidential election and the inauguration of Catherine Connolly, who opposes Germany’s rearmament on the basis that it represents a “revitalisation” of its “military industrial base”.
Ireland should focus on process, not content, in its upcoming presidency of the EU. We need to leave our confused policy inconsistencies at home and focus instead on being administrative nerds bent on reaching compromises. But to do this – in an impartial and successful way – requires an understanding of just how far off-piste Dublin’s policies appear to many other EU states.
It will require us to acknowledge that Germany (and other states) have a fundamental loyalty to Israel borne out of the horrors of their own 20th-century history. These ties are pivotal to their understanding of responsible statehood today. On Ukraine, Ireland needs to leave the eulogising of neutrality at home and grasp the sense of panic pervading our eastern EU neighbours. On potential enlargement, Ireland needs to understand how this issue is intrinsically linked to the future of the EU budget. The impact of this on the EU’s net contributors such as Germany and the Netherlands (and Ireland) is pivotal to reaching agreement on this topic. Ireland needs to be honest about the national budgetary impact of a larger EU budget, particularly when paired with lower inflows from the Common Agricultural Policy.
Finally, Ireland should focus – as exclusively as possible – on the overriding economic theme dominating Brussels discussions today – that of competitiveness and the single market. It’s a boring, but vital, element of the EU’s future, focusing on generic issues like cutting red tape and supporting SMEs. It’s also one where we stand not to be ridiculed or embarrassed – at least not just yet.
Dr Eoin Drea is a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre, the official think tank of the European People’s Party of which Fine Gael is a member
