The movable feast that is Ireland’s Council of the European Union presidency has rolled into Co Mayo, with employment and social affairs ministers and officials from across the 27 member states thrusting a Ballina secondary school into the bureaucratic spotlight on Monday.
Local boys Dara Calleary (the Minister for Social Protection) and Alan Dillon (Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise) served as the hosts with the most. They got things under way on Sunday evening with a tour and dinner for the visitors at Foxford Woollen Mills, where a mohair throw costs €159, since you ask.
They were delighted to welcome such a gathering to Co Mayo, with both saying it was not just an exercise in showing off their constituency.
“I think it’s important that events are held outside Dublin,” Dillon said.
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“I think it’s important that Mayo can show we can host events like this,” Calleary added.
In fairness, most of the events during the six-month presidency will be held in Dublin, though Cork, Wicklow, Kerry and Limerick will also be favoured with the presence of EU ministers at various stages.
The Employment and Social Affairs Council meeting took place at St Mary’s secondary school. At 8am, Calleary was outside greeting arriving dignitaries. Bang on 9am he got things moving in the school hall, which has been converted into a council chamber. Calleary began his remarks in Irish, leading to a scramble for the translation headsets.
The presidency will be a boon to Irish translators, gardaí looking for a few bob extra (it’s an overtime bonanza) and the suppliers of the squadrons of swanky black limousines and minivans required to ferry the Eurocrats from airports to hotels to meeting venues.
About 150 delegates came to Ballina. As well as EU member states, representatives of some nations aspiring to join – including Ukraine – attend these meetings and then there is a plethora of organisations, from trade unions to employers’ groups to interest groups of various stripes, in tow.
About half of the EU member states sent ministers or deputy ministers – others sent civil servants or ambassadors.
Security – the great fear for the presidency – was tight. There was a protest by local pro-Palestinian activists outside the school.
“Ah, they’re grand,” said the Minister.
So what did they talk about? This was an “informal” meeting, meaning that there are no agreed conclusions. There were three sessions which focused on poverty, unemployment and access to the workplace for people with disabilities.
It’s serious business, the presidency. It’s easily dismissed as endless meetings, protocol and process, but how many social and economic advances have come in Ireland due to the EU’s influence?
There are 10 priorities in the employment and social affairs area for the Irish presidency, ranging from housing to disabilities to equal protection.
Calleary is especially focused on the disability issue because he admits “we have a very poor disability employment gap”. He is trying to persuade employers to take on more people with disabilities, not out of charity but because “you are missing out on an extremely, extraordinarily talented bunch of people who have a lot to offer to your organisation”.
“We have a huge amount of work to do,” he said. “I want to learn from Europe as to how we can do that.”
With its history of exclusion and emigration, poverty and resilience, Mayo is as good as any place for that. Different nowadays, of course.
Ireland’s economic fortune, with almost full employment, is well known to its European partners, who struggle with bigger problems. But past performance is no guarantee of future success. The latest official figures show Ireland’s unemployment rate has inched upwards and there are growing concerns about the impact of AI on tech jobs.
Like the Mayo football team, whose flags are flying everywhere here in advance of next weekend’s trip to Croke Park, we would be wise to guard against complacency.
