The @fiannafail party was established 100 years ago today by men and women who had a clear vision for our country, built on strong republican values and firmly focused on improving life for people and communities. Today, under the leadership of @michealmartintd
we remain a party true to those founding principles. I was proud to address #AF84 and set out how we will continue to support workers and families, protect jobs and build the infrastructure our country needs in now and in the years ahead.
Continuing our EU themed week at the Department of Public Expenditure Infrastructure Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, we hosted a Town Hall yesterday with the title ‘EU Presidency – Six Months to Shape Europe’.
We heard from EU Commissioner @michaelmcgratheu and Minister @jackchamberstd as they spoke of the opportunities and responsibilities for Ireland as we begin to host the EU Presidency.
This talk was moderated by Maeve von Heynitz, Director General, EU Division, Department of Foreign Affairs.
The conference opened with remarks from our Secretary General, David Moloney as he made clear the Department’s specific role for the EU Presidency.
This was followed by a lecture from Mark Hanniffy titled, ‘Ireland’s EU Presidency: Overview and Priorities’.
The day closed with a panel led by Michael McGrath.
Presentation’s included, ‘DPER’s EU Footprint’, by Siobhán O’Higgins.
‘Implementing cohesion programmes under new governance structures and a single National and Regional Partnership Plan’ by Andrew Condon.
‘Public Procurement During the Presidency’ presented by Martin O’Gorman.
And finally, ‘Staff Regulations - Key issues including recruitment and geographic balance’, presented by Jonathan Morris.
The closing remarks were delivered by John Kinnane, who provided context and history for Irelands’ hosting of the EU Presidency and what makes this year’s opportunity so exciting.
Minister @jackchamberstd , and the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, SimonHarris, have welcomed EU Commissioner @michaelmcgratheu ’s confirmation that Ireland will receive its fourth payment of €249 million under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) 💶
The fourth payment is part of Ireland’s €1.15 billion allocation in grants over the lifetime of the RRF.
Payments under the RRF are performance-based and depend on the successful implementation by Ireland of the investments and reforms as set out in its National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
The plan covers the priorities of Advancing the Green Transition 🌱 , Accelerating and Expanding Digital Reforms and Transformation 💻 , Social and Economic Recovery and Job Creation 🏗️ , and REPowerEU.
Minister Chambers said today:
“I am delighted to receive confirmation from EU Commissioner Michael McGrath that Ireland will receive a further €249 million under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.
This payment request will bring the funds paid to Ireland under the RRF to €929 million, corresponding to drawdown of 80% of the overall allocation and 80% of all milestones and targets in the plan now achieved.
This paves the way for continued progress towards full implementation of Ireland’s plan before the end of the year”
Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Simon Harris said:
“This €249 million payment marks Ireland’s penultimate disbursement under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.
We are focused now on completing our Plan ahead of the Facility’s closure later this year, coinciding with Ireland’s forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union."
EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath said:
“The reforms and investments concerned will contribute to railway electrification, e-health, public administration, higher education, re-skilling and up-skilling, as well as renewable energy generation.
It is a particular pleasure to share this news alongside Minister Chambers, whose department I know well from my time in government. "
To Read the Press Release in Full 👇:
/3zc4xjkf
Just 1 week to go in the Galway West bye-election 🗳
Great to get out on the campaign trail with @fiannafail candidate @cillian_keane1 and his Mum Louise in Galway city this evening!
Pleased to help launch the world first economic intelligence report by @dlrco_chamber last night. Utilising innovative data collection, the report provides a unique insight into the value of the local economy and the huge opportunities for further growth in the years ahead.
Pleased to sign new regulations on scale of fees for environmental judicial reviews with my colleague Minister @darraghobrientd today.
This is a key reform on infrastructure delivery which creates a clear and transparent legal cost framework to help speed up infrastructure right across our country.
Well done to all the parents, students, staff & volunteers who are running the annual CCC Plant Sale fundraiser this weekend for Castleknock Community College @ccc_parents_association
Great to visit this afternoon to buy some of what was on display along with my colleague Cllr. @carbonemangan and to see big support from across the community!
🌻 🌱🪴 #cccplantsale
Congrats to everyone in Brady’s Castleknock on the opening of their new Volvo showroom today.
A wonderfully successful family business of more than 50 years who support so many local clubs and community initiatives. @bradysdublin
Over the weekend, Minister Jack Chambers engaged with community members across the Bay Area, including representatives from the United Irish Cultural Center, Inc., the San Francisco Gaelic Athletic Association SFGAA, SF Glens SC, and the planned San Francisco Irish Famine Memorial.
With Patrick Uniacke, the Minister visited the site of the planned permanent Great Famine Memorial in San Francisco, which will honor the victims and survivors of the Irish Famine. This memorial aims to connect the Irish-American community of California with their immigrant origins and recognize the contributions of Famine-era immigrants to the area.
During his visit to the UICC, the Minister met with community leaders and friends. The UICC has served as a community center for decades and remains a vital pillar within the San Francisco Irish community. The Minister also had the opportunity to view plans for a new center that will continue to support the Irish community in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
On Treasure Island, the Minister met with the SFGAA at Pairc na nGael, the largest and most developed Gaelic games facility in the Western United States. Additionally, he met with the San Francisco Glens, founded in 1961 by the Irish diaspora and Irish-Americans, which continues to maintain strong connections to the community today.
My trade mission to San Francisco with @irelandinsf continued at Stanford University — one of the birthplaces of modern AI.
The son of an Irish immigrant, John McCarthy coined the term “artificial intelligence” in 1955, and his later work at Stanford shaped many of the innovations we see in practical use today. Seventy years on, Stanford and the wider Bay Area continue to lead the work shaping the future of technology.
Following this we visited AMD, Cisco, Google, Crusoe & Workday. These incredible companies have based significant parts of their operations in Ireland and many of them are developing highly promising new technologies with the potential to transform public services.
OpenAI showcased specific applications that could be deployed to speed up and enhance public service delivery for citizens.
We then joined NVIDIA to discuss their open-source AI models and their ongoing work to support the development of sovereign AI across the world.
What struck me most is that even among the clear leaders in this space, there remains significant uncertainty about AI’s full potential and its real-world use cases across society and the economy.
One thing is clear — AI will be truly transformative. The only question is how well we prepare for it across our public services to reap the benefits.
Busy first day in San Francisco with @irelandinsf meeting with leaders from across the technology and AI industries to support our continued strong ties and to learn how we can make Ireland’s public services ready for the AI revolution now underway.
I joined John Collison of Stripe to discuss the Governments infrastructure reforms to deliver abundance and growth in the Irish economy.
I also spoke to some of the incredible young scientist winners presenting their work to leaders from across the world of technology and business at Stripe Sessions 2026.
The consulate hosted an AI & Minority Languages Conference which explored how new AI tools can protect and grow support for the Irish language in the age of AI with @udarasnag and others across Europe and beyond.
This was followed by a discussion the future of AI and digital technology with @salesforce .
Last was a discussion with Kiva Allgood of the @worldeconomicforum on the emerging technologies which will shape our world in the coming years.
