Most of the big political events hosted in the State during Ireland’s time holding the presidency of the council of the European Union next year will take place in Dublin.
Ireland is due to take over the important deal-making role within the EU for the second half of next year, which will see Government ministers become responsible for pushing EU policy forward.
Ministers and senior diplomats will chair a large number of meetings, in Brussels and Ireland, where they will be expected to steer the other 26 national governments towards compromise agreements on various decisions and pieces of legislation.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris is expected to brief Cabinet next week about the ongoing preparations for the influential EU role.
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It is understood that 22 meetings of ministers from all EU states will be hosted in Ireland, along with a big summit of European leaders, which will be a huge logistical undertaking.
About a quarter of the Cabinet-level meetings will be held outside Dublin, Mr Harris is expected to tell Cabinet colleagues next week.
The estimated cost of hosting the EU presidency has yet to be finalised, but it is likely to be about €170 million, according to two sources.
The Government is keen to make sure there is some regional spread of events across the country.
Work to refurbish State-owned venues that will be used to host high-level meetings, such as Dublin Castle, is already under way. Several other venues have been block-booked for the six-month period.
A meeting of all EU finance ministers at Dublin Castle was the largest event during Ireland’s last stint running the council presidency in 2013.
This time around the biggest event will be a summit of nearly 50 European heads of state and government, a relatively new forum known as the European Political Community. It will be held back to back with a separate meeting of the 27 EU leaders. The venue for the summit has not been confirmed.
Hosting the summit of European leaders, as well as more regular meetings of EU ministers, will pose an unprecedented security and planning challenge for the State, according to an internal Government briefing.
The briefing, seen by The Irish Times, said An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice were still working out the likely costs of securing the high-profile political events during the EU presidency.
A changed security landscape and the more complex nature of potential threats would be a feature of the planning, the briefing said.
Irish Ministers have begun to travel to Brussels more regularly for meetings, to build up closer working relationships with their counterparts from other EU states.
A rota is to be drawn up so that at least one Irish Minister will also attend the monthly voting sessions of the European Parliament from September onwards, to develop contacts with senior figures in the parliament.
Running a successful EU council presidency will be “essential for Ireland’s position, influence and reputation” in the union, a separate Department of An Taoiseach briefing stated.
The briefing, dated March 27th and released under the Freedom of Information Act, said Ireland would be expected to play an “honest broker” role during EU policy debates.
Topics that would likely be high on the agenda included defence, migration, climate, economic competitiveness, CAP reform and negotiations to decide the size of the next EU budget, the briefing said.
Work is ongoing to map out what policy areas the Government will prioritise during the six-month window where it holds the EU council presidency next year.
