Debate contribution: Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 2 March 2026.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

2 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5433022

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Did you say that I have 10 minutes?

Thank you very much. I know that that is a limit, rather than a target; I infer from your tone that I should it interpret it in that way. I am very pleased to move the motion on behalf of the Opposition. It is further to many motions that the SDLP and other parties have sponsored on the subject of collaborating, cooperating and, ideally from our perspective, eventually rejoining with the European Union. You do not have to agree with every word of our motion to agree with its broad thrust, which is that it is clearly in the interests of this region to maximise the opportunities from engagement with the European Union and, specifically, seize upon the Irish presidency of the European Council to maximise that closeness for economic, cultural, social and, yes, diplomatic advantage. For those who are not aware of what the presidency of the European Council is, it involves member states taking the opportunity to chair, coordinate and lead the agenda of the European Union at Council level. The Council is the forum by which the member states and their heads of Government engage, collaborate and set the strategic direction for Europe. What a moment. As we have discussed today, we see that conflict is deepening in the world. Irresponsible actors use aggressive military action to solve disputes, rather than diplomatic means. The world is regressing from the principles of international law, multilateralism and respect for human rights and moving towards being a place where might means right and the attitude is, "We have more weapons than you, so we are going to bomb you, rather than sit down, engage and try to leverage a better outcome for all our people". I make no apology whatsoever for saying that I and my party believe fundamentally in the European project as being the greatest peace process in the history of the world. We have repeated that and will do so for decades. Our former leader, John Hume, was extremely successfully repetitive in talking about the European context to the Irish question and the fact that, through common European Union membership and cooperation, the people of this island, with all their different diversities and traditions — and, indeed, the people of these islands: the UK and Ireland together — could move on from an extraordinarily difficult, tragic and often bitter and violent past towards something better and more productive. That can still be our future. In a modest way, the presidency of the European Council this year is an opportunity for us to reclaim that agenda. It does not mean just highfalutin theoretical stuff like what I am talking about now: it means practical opportunities. It means the opportunity for our young people — whether they are British, Irish, both, neither, Northern Irish or a combination of those things — to be European and to travel, study and work across the continent. It means the opportunity for our academics and businesses to avail themselves of research opportunities, new markets and new customers; for our workers to avail themselves of the workers' rights agenda and the labour protections that have been delivered via the European Union; and for us to benefit, in environmental terms, from greater cooperation. In the past, Irish presidencies —.

I will happily give way.

I am happy to talk about that, and I am glad that the Member asked the question. Ireland is a militarily neutral country, but it has never been, and would not claim to be, a politically neutral country. Obviously, it stands four-square behind Ukraine defending itself. However, that does not mean that it contributes to, or participates in, military activities. It is perfectly possible to be both of those things. It is possible to believe in the rule of law and in prioritising diplomacy and international law above military intervention and conflict. That is entirely consistent with being an active and leading member of the European Union. That is what I want the Irish presidency to do and, bluntly, what I want the whole island of Ireland to do, ideally when we rejoin the EU. However, I recognise that you and members of your political party and political tradition do not want that outcome. However, I still think that it is in your interests, and in those of the people whom you represent, to engage in Europe. Let me explain why, on a more practical level, to come back to the point about practicalities. We hear — I am not going to labour the point in a hostile or negative way — Members opposite still talk — I am sure that the Member for North Antrim will talk about this — about the frustrations around the practicalities of the protocol.

I will not rehearse everything that happened with Brexit. I do that a lot in the Chamber. However, if we accept that there are consequences that are largely — from my perspective, almost entirely — negative from Brexit, which include disruptions to the movement of goods on an east-west basis and all the other disruptions on the provision of services, on human rights and on a whole range of other things, this is also, potentially, an opportunity for Northern Ireland representatives — unionists, nationalists, neither — trade bodies, trade unions and businesses to have their say with the European Union and to make arguments for how they would like to see those arrangements simplified or implemented in a different way. In addition, included in our motion — sometimes, we are accused of simply looking at one agenda: the North/South, all-Ireland agenda, of which we are very proud, and, ultimately, the new Ireland agenda — is the UK's relationship with the EU. I am somebody who, in a previous professional life, actually attempted to do something that would have been in the interests of the UK and, indeed, unionism and keep the UK in the EU. I did not succeed, and it is to your cost, I am afraid. My constitutional argument has benefited from it: yours has not. I am sorry to be direct about that. It is hugely to the advantage of the UK to engage in the Irish presidency and, hopefully, build towards greater alignment between the UK and the EU. That is in everybody's interests. European Union Council presidencies are often about the boring, grinding work of getting agendas agreed, agreeing communiqués and getting things moved on.

I will give way, briefly, but I have progress to make.

Obviously, I do not agree, but I say to the Member that, if he thinks that anybody in the South or in Europe is not engaging or is not listening, I am sure that they will take his call. His constituency colleague who is sitting behind him is a former MEP and is well connected in the European Union. I promise you that they will take meetings; you can engage; you can make that case; and it will be done on a respectful basis. I encourage you to do that, and it would be much better if we had an EU office in Belfast, so that they can hear all of us, notwithstanding the constitutional difference. Let me come back to this point: the presidency is a significant opportunity for the people of the North: all of us. It is also an opportunity to restate the importance of the serious, grinding work of politics, diplomacy and improving people's lives through democratic politics rather than simply through conflict. That is a really important message for us to think about today. The presidency of the EU involves hammering out communiqués; it involves difficult compromises and slow progress. In the past, Irish presidencies have made progress on things such as the new membership in the EU expansion that happened just over 20 years ago and, back in 1990, around the criteria for the single European currency. Those things progressed for the people of this continent peacefully. That is how we moved on from the appalling tragedy of conflict in the 20th century. It is not always glamorous; sometimes, it is very dull. The media do not always report it, and it does not work well in clips on social media. However, for those of us who choose to do democratic politics, ultimately, that is what it should be about: using the boring, geeky stuff of politics and diplomacy to improve the lives of people and to prioritise that above bombing, conflict and confrontation, a path that will only ever lead to more conflict. I accept that there are questions about European security. Those debates are going on, and it is disappointing that some parties have not engaged in them. I believe that Ireland should be a neutral country. That does not mean that you have to be politically neutral. I do not think that you can be neutral in relation to Ukraine, and it is disappointing that certain parties — Sinn Féin, obviously — voted against humanitarian support for Ukraine. However, I am clear that the best way to resolve those issues is to be at the table, to be negotiating and to be delivering the best for all the people of this continent. Brexit was a disaster. The consequences have been bad for all of us. The best future for Northern Ireland is in a new Ireland back inside the European Union. Even if you do not agree with me on all those things, there are so many huge opportunities for our people, our young people, our workers, our businesses and our communities to engage with Europe and to start with delivering benefits from the Irish presidency. I commend the motion to the House.

1,630 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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