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

Debate contribution by Mrs Ciara Ferguson on 2 March 2026.

MLA

Mrs Ciara Ferguson

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

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 5433075

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I welcome the fact that, from July to December 2026, Ireland will, for the eighth time, hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union. During the six-month EU presidency, Ireland will have the opportunity to steer Council's agenda and its legislative and policymaking process. Irish Ministers and officials will chair meetings of the Council and its preparatory bodies, and Ireland will represent the Council in its interactions with other EU institutions. In June 2026, Ireland will have the opportunity to set out in the presidency policy document its priorities and objectives for the work of the Council during its term. Ireland's presidency will begin from June 2026, exactly 10 years since Britain's reckless and failed Brexit agenda was forced on communities across the North of Ireland by a failing colonial state. If the past decade has evidenced anything, folks, it is that Brexit has been economically, socially and politically detrimental to Ireland and all its people. The presidency must, therefore, be treated as a moment of opportunity at which we assert our position of being visibly and unambiguously anti-partitionist in all content that is driven by the office. We constantly reiterate the European Council's 2017 statement in the context of Britain, and I will mention it again: in the event of a united Ireland, the state would automatically be in the EU. We need to strengthen east-west and North/South cooperation and maximise opportunities for engagement on and investment in our public services. The reality of Britain's false promises is being felt acutely by our community and voluntary sector. In constituencies such as mine, in Derry, we know the impacts on our socio-economic fabric of the loss of PEACE funding and are feeling the decline in investment from the loss of the European social fund, unmatched when replaced by Britain's so-called Shared Prosperity Fund. We are all aware of NICVA being a clear example. It has indicated that funding cuts are so severe this year that they threaten the services that help and support those who are the furthest removed from our labour market. Where British policy undermines the proven success of community-led programmes and interventions that prioritise social inclusion, we must use all the tools that are at our disposal to represent Irish interests and the need for constitutional change to enable the growth of our economy, the betterment of our public services and the protection of youth engagement and empowerment. I will reflect, briefly, on the UUP's amendment, which we will oppose. Let us be very clear that the independence of foreign policy and military neutrality are at the core of what it is to be Irish. As a nation of people who were victims of colonisation, occupation and partition, we reject all calls to participate in foreign wars and conflicts. We absolutely reject imperialism and any moves by Europe towards having a centralised military framework.

Sorry, I have only one minute left. This generation is calling not to manage division but to end it. We remain a strong voice against the ongoing apartheid, occupation and annexation of Palestine and its people, we condemn the US and Israel's recent attacks on Iran, and we continue to strive for the delivery of a peace deal in Ukraine. That serves to highlight the fact that it has never been more important for the people of the island of Ireland to stand together as one, neutral nation in the face of foreign wars and conflicts. We can move forward, not bound by history but guided by it, and leave behind the divisions of yesterday. Through unity, neutrality and self-determination, we can build our resilience and realise the vision for a better and fairer future for all our people.

618 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Flagged Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty

Second assessment

Jev’s answers did not settle this record, so a second model, claude-opus-5-5, read the same text (without the MLA’s name or party) and gave its reasons on 21 October 2026. How the second assessment works

Verdict

Flagged

Public interest or divisiveness

Mixed

Against the published rubric

The speech raises real policy points, notably the loss of PEACE and European Social Fund money, the shortfall in the 'so-called Shared Prosperity Fund' and the cuts facing NICVA. These are framed, though, inside a constitutional contest in which Brexit was 'forced on communities across the North of Ireland by a failing colonial state' and the people are 'victims of colonisation, occupation and partition'. The rubric names portraying the state of the other tradition as illegitimate or an occupying force as a recognised dog whistle, and the speaker adopts that framing in their own voice. The call for the presidency to be 'visibly and unambiguously anti-partitionist in all content' asks a shared office to carry one community's constitutional position.

Public interest or divisiveness

Advocating constitutional change is legitimate democratic activity, and the funding and community-sector points serve constituents. However, much of the speech presents the British state as colonial and occupying, and defines what it is 'to be Irish' in ways that leave out people here who identify differently. The closing appeal to 'leave behind the divisions of yesterday' does not change that the speech deepens a communal argument. Both the substantive and the divisive elements are significant.

Jev’s structured answers

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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