Committee on Legal Affairs Ordinary Meeting
28 September 2026
Contents updated on 28 Sept 2026
Legend
Transcript markers
- text Sentence being played
- text Search result
- text Intervention cited by the link you opened
Click a sentence to play the video from that moment. Select text to quote it with the speaker, timestamp and link.
More options
JURI European Parliament
Follow its sittings00:31 - 01:31
Speaker 1
We now move to an exchange of views with Dermot Ahern, Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration of Ireland. It is a great pleasure that I welcome today Minister Ahern, who will, after the exchange of views we held with Minister Michael Smith on 7th of September, continue to present to us the priorities of the Irish Presidency of the Council in the policy areas of interest to the Committee on Legal Affairs.
Dear Minister, thank you for being today with us. I will give you the floor immediately and after that the coordinators and the respective members will have a chance to put you their questions. And without further ado, I would like to give you the floor for about 10 minutes.
01:31 - 07:18
Speaker 2
Go raibh maith agat, a Elan, agus ar dtús ba mhaith liom fáilte mhór a chur roimh gach duine anseo, agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leat as an cuireadh a thug tú dom a bheith anseo ag an ócáid speisialta roimh an gCoiste. Tá an-áthas orm a bheith anseo inniu chun labhairt leis an gCoiste seo. Is é seo an t-ochtú uachtaránacht ag Éirinn ar Chomhairle an Aontais, agus an chéad uachtaránacht d'Éirinn ó tháinig an Ghaeilge chun bheith ina teanga oifigiúil iomlán oibre sa bhliain 2022. Is mór an onóir dom a bheith anseo mar Aire Dlí ag labhairt Gaeilge, ach tá a fhios agam freisin go bhfuil Béarla ag a lán daoine sa choiste seo, agus mar sin leanfaidh mé ar aghaidh as Béarla. Good afternoon, Elan.
I want to thank you for inviting me before this important committee, and I'm very conscious of the important work undertaken by this committee and the central role that JURI plays in lawmaking across the European Union. You ensure the alignment of legislative proposals with the treaties, promoting simplification, better regulation, upholding the principle of subsidiarity, and monitoring the application of EU law. EU law is the backbone of the single market and creates shared rules that protect our citizens, enforce and uphold our values, and ensure the high European standard across all of our member states. The slogan of our presidency is an old Irish proverb, which is "Ní neart go cur le chéile", which means "there is no strength without unity". And I think this is particularly true within the justice and home affairs field, and I'm pleased to have the opportunity to discuss Ireland's presidency priorities with you all today.
Ireland's priorities for the EU presidency reflect what Europe needs to do to deliver effectively for people across the 27 EU member states.
Overall, the Irish presidency will prioritize work to develop the competitiveness of Europe's economy, safeguard the fundamental values of the European Union both at home and abroad, and strengthen the security of the Union's citizens. The Irish presidency has prioritized three areas of work in the Justice and Home Affairs sector. First, we have prioritized advancing a fair, firm, and rules-based approach to migration, asylum, and returns. Second, we will strengthen Europe's security and resilience in the face of evolving threats. And third, we wish to protect fundamental rights, upholding the rule of law and advancing digitalization in our justice systems.
While many of our presidency priorities are outside of the remit of this committee, as Minister of both Home Affairs and Justice, I will also outline some of the Home Affairs priorities in order to give the overall context of the priorities under my remit. I'll start briefly with a topic that, while not under my own remit, I know is a priority for this committee, and that is the EU-INC 28th regime proposal. This is a priority file for the Irish presidency.
While responsibility for this file rests with my colleague Minister Neave Smith, who you will recall was before the committee on the 7th of September last, I can assure you that the committee that progress is being made and that Member States are engaging constructively with the text. The Irish Presidency looks forward to working towards an agreement on the proposal by the end of the year. We're also aiming to finalize the remaining procedural steps to facilitate formal adoption of the protection of adults regulation and the corresponding Council decision during our presidency. Moving on to matters under my own remit, the Irish Presidency will support ongoing efforts to modernize justice systems through digital technologies while ensuring robust safeguards for privacy and data protection. We will support ongoing digital simplification efforts, supporting the EU's strategic positioning as the location of choice for trustworthy digital innovation while continuing to protect and uphold fundamental rights including privacy and protection of personal data.
Work in the Justice and Home Affairs Council in this area reflects the focus on simplification and competitiveness across all Council formations.
In this area, a priority for me is to seek agreement on amendments to the EU Data Protection Regulation for EU institutions and bodies which is of course a necessary piece of work to complement the proposed revised mandates for JHA bodies like Europol and Eurojust. We will progress work under the digital justice package and support implementation of the Digital Justice at 2030 strategy. With regard to the digital omnibus, it's essential to advance work decisively. We need to deliver swift and concrete simplification gains for the European Union's digital ecosystem while maintaining legal certainty and the level of protection for individuals and organizations. The Irish presidency continues to progress conclusion of the work towards the adoption of a negotiating mandate.