DUBLIN — The bill for Ireland’s next turn at the helm of the European Union will hit €400 million. That is more than six times what the State spent on the last presidency in 2013. Security costs alone account for a large chunk of the increase.
The contrast with 2013, when diplomats called it the “tap water Presidency” and spending was kept to €64 million, could hardly be sharper. Back then, Ireland was a wreck.
The banking crisis had shattered the economy. The EU and IMF had bailed the country out. Ireland was a net recipient of EU funds, taking more money from Brussels than it paid in.
The presidency was run on a shoestring. Diplomats served tap water at meetings to save cash.
The country was still seen as the sick man of Europe. That is gone. Ireland is now one of the wealthiest member states by GDP.
It is a net contributor to the EU budget. The recovery from the bailout era has been complete, and the credit shown to Ireland for that recovery has been reflected in unwavering support from the European Commission. The timing of the 2026 presidency, which begins on Wednesday, is anything but routine.
The sheer volume of legislation the Irish government will be expected to steer through the EU’s law-making machinery, one diplomat suggested, could not be greater. The bloc has transformed since Ireland last held the role in 2013.
A cycle of crises has reshaped the EU. Terrorism, migration, Brexit, Covid, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the return of Donald Trump to the White House have each pushed member states to grant the EU deeper and more far-reaching powers. “The EU is a much bigger beast than it was in 2013,” one Irish diplomat told RTÉ.
“It’s a different world. There are more competencies and they are more complicated.” What is at stake now, compared to previous presidencies, is of a different order entirely.
The State has held the rotating presidency seven times since joining the European Economic Community in 1973. This will be the eighth. But the context has changed fundamentally.
The EU has accumulated authority over areas that were unthinkable a decade ago. Foreign policy, defense, energy security, public health — none of these were core EU business in 2013. Now they are.
Ireland will have to manage this expanded machinery. The presidency sets the agenda for Council meetings, brokers compromises between member states, and represents the Council in negotiations with the European Parliament.
The workload has exploded. The Irish civil service will be stretched. The cost has exploded too.
The €400 million figure includes security arrangements that were not necessary in 2013. The threat environment across Europe has worsened.
Terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, and elsewhere have led to tightened security protocols for all major EU events. The Irish presidency will be no exception. Ireland entered the EEC in 1973, a relatively poor agricultural economy on the western fringe of Europe.
Fifty-three years later, it holds the presidency as one of the richest countries in the bloc. The transformation is not just economic. The EU itself has changed beyond recognition.
The presidency Ireland takes on Wednesday will be a test of whether the State can manage a beast far bigger than the one it last handled.
