100. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the preparations that are ongoing in relation to Ireland's forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57156/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

Will the Tánaiste give us an update on the preparations for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council next year?

Sentiment score: 0.00

We have a very good history of having strong, well-organised and productive Presidencies in this country, and I look forward to the same thing next year. I particularly welcome what the Tánaiste has said about the public consultation around the priorities for the Presidency. That is very welcome and very important. Could he give us details of how the public will have an opportunity to contribute to that? Obviously, it will be done at national level, but will it be done also in schools, for example? Many children around the country will be seeing an Irish Presidency for the first time. What steps will we take to ensure that their teachers know about it, that they have an opportunity to feed into it and that their ideas are included in the considerations for those priorities as well as the cultural agenda that we will have during the second six months of next year?

Sentiment score: 0.44

I look forward to that as well. One of the important things we will look at during our Presidency is the multi-annual financial framework, a really important body of work to be done during the Presidency. Are there any specific preparations for that? Second, as regards the enlargement agenda, there are many accession countries looking to become part of the European Union. Many of them feel that the enlargement process by the Commission has somewhat stalled. I know the Commission would not agree with that terminology, but the reality is that we have not had an accession since 2013. Many countries - I am thinking particularly of places like Montenegro - are very advanced in their negotiations and ready to do a deal. Will there be a possibility for us to be prepared to do that deal during our Presidency?

Sentiment score: 0.17