The declining number of Irish people working in the middle layers of key European Union institutions is a “serious problem”, internal Department of Foreign Affairs briefings warned.
Having a wide spread of Irish officials within the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU that proposes and enforces laws, and implements policies and the EU budget, is seen as being crucial in helping influence policy from an early stage.
About one-third of Irish officials currently working in EU institutions are due to retire by 2026, according to the department. Officials privately warned this would see Ireland lose influence, as many current high-ranking officials retire.
“Ireland faces a serious problem with respect to its declining representation (due to demographic reasons among EU staff),” an internal briefing stated. “The Government recognises the importance of Irish personnel on the staff of the EU institutions as a channel for Irish influence in the EU,” the briefing added.
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The April 10th briefing note was prepared for Minister of State for European Affairs Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and released to The Irish Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Speaking about the problem, one Irish commission official said the drop-off in Irish representation within the powerful body would harm the country’s influence in future. There would be “nobody around the table” to raise concerns during initial discussions about some particular sensitivity or impact a proposed policy would have on Ireland, the source said.
Having a good network of officials in the commission also reduced the “gap” between EU and domestic policymaking, another Irish source said.
The idea that Ireland punched above its weight in Brussels was overstated, they said. Other countries like the Netherlands were much better at strategically influencing policy from the inside, before something reached the desk of diplomats or politicians. “We miss a trick a little bit by not using our network inside the institutions,” the Irish commission official said. “If we’re not represented at every level, junior and senior, it will be a loss,” they said.
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Part of the reason for the demographic cliff edge was many staff who applied for jobs in the commission in the years after Ireland joined the EU were now coming to the end of their careers, another Irish source stated. The last two decades have also seen more competition for commission posts from staff from Central and Eastern European countries who joined the bloc in 2004.
As well as high-ranking civil servants within the commission, there are a number of Irish people in other senior EU positions. For example, Emer Cooke is head of the European Medicines Agency, Tony Murphy is president of the European Court of Auditors, and Philip Lane is the European Central Bank’s chief economist.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said the Government was hoping to “significantly increase” the number of Irish who successfully applied for jobs in EU institutions over the coming years. “They are useful contact points for Irish government officials on EU matters and can give early warning to the Irish system on significant upcoming policy or legislative decisions,” the spokesman said.
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The department said it was aiming to have an extra 50 Irish staff hired in EU institutions by 2030. The internal briefing said this would be done by encouraging Irish people to apply for EU posts and “equipping Irish candidates with the skills needed to succeed in competitions”.
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