Writing on X following his arrival at Baldonnel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Ukraine proves every day that it deserves to be an equal part of our common European home.
“And we hope that during Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, we will manage to achieve tangible progress on the path to membership and open all negotiation clusters,” reports RTE.
Tánaiste Simon Harris and Volodymyr Zelensky embraced after the Ukrainian president disembarked from his plane.
Mr Harris and Mr Zelensky then departed Baldonnel together on their way to the meeting, reports RTE.
The Ukrainian leader will attend the opening of Ireland’s EU Presidency at Dublin Castle this afternoon.
The plane carrying President Zelensky touched down at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, where he was met by Tánaiste Simon Harris, reports RTE.
The pair will have a brief meeting before heading to Dublin Castle for the opening ceremony of Ireland’s Presidency of the European Council.
As Ireland assumes the presidency of the Council of the European Union, Irish Farmers’ Association President Francie Gorman said the success of the Irish presidency for farmers and rural Ireland will “require a substantial increase in the Common Agricultural Policy budget,” reports RTE.
“The Commission proposal from this time last year remains entirely inadequate for the needs of the sector, and the decision to cut the budget by 24% doesn’t recognise the pivotal work farmers do daily for food security, the environment and for rural areas more broadly,” Mr Gorman said.
“IFA’s National Council returned from Brussels last week where we met with representatives from all European institutions including Irish MEPs and Commissioners Michael McGrath and Oliver Varhelyi.
“Our message was simple – the budget proposal on the table for CAP remains too low for the requirements of the sector,” Mr Gorman said, reports RTE.
“It will decimate already vulnerable farm families and rural areas; constrain environmental endeavours and amplify the generational renewal challenges and exodus of small-scale family farms continually endured here and across Europe.”
He added: “Our Government must prove it has farmers’ backs and negotiate a budget which meets the needs of the sector and a CAP regulation which is independent and governed by the agriculture ministers of Europe as has always been the case,” reports RTE.
Independent TD for Offaly Carol Nolan said the projected cost of Ireland’s six-month EU Presidency is “spiralling into territory that no previous presidency has ever approached.”
Deputy Nolan was speaking after submitting a parliamentary question on the matter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee, reports RTE.
The question asked her to explain the reported potential of a €400 million cost for the forthcoming EU Presidency, the reason it is costing over six times the cost of the last presidency in 2013, and how it can be justified that Ireland is spending multiples of what other countries who recently held the presidency spent.
“Let’s just put this in plain terms. Recent EU presidencies emphatically underline just how far Ireland’s projected costs have drifted from the European norm.
“Cyprus expects to have spent about €95 million on its 2026 term; Denmark came in at roughly €80 million; and the Czech Republic’s independently audited 2022 Presidency cost €84 million which is about €95 million in today’s prices,” said Deputy Nolan, reports RTE.
“If the final cost is €400 million, then one single month of Ireland’s 2026 Presidency would cost roughly €66 million.
“This is more than the entire 2013 presidency, which cost about €60 million. That is an extraordinary escalation even if we do take into account the additional meetings,” she said, reports RTE.
She said the department indicated the final bill will not be known until 2027.
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