The walk-through envisaged where visiting EU ministers would be greeted and pick up their accreditation badges, and the route to the room where the Council of Ministers meeting would take place. We have to give a good account of ourselves.”Ireland will assume the EU presidency from the start of July until the end of the year. The country in the rotating presidency is responsible for brokering compromises in Brussels between the EU’s 27 national governments. It will fall to Irish ministers and senior diplomats to defuse any rows and keep the wheels of the European political system moving. The trip was a “good opportunity” to get a sense of what was expected from Ireland’s presidency, the State’s top civil servant, John Callinan, told the other department secretaries general in an email before the visit.

Source: The Irish Times February 28, 2026 12:02 UTC