How important is the EU summit happening in Dublin?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman, on Newstalk, with Ciara.

Ciara Kelly (0:08)

And we are joined now by former ambassador to the EU and the UK, Bobby McDonagh. Bobby, you had a piece today in the papers about the value of the EPC, the summit of these 50 leaders, 50 plus leaders.

We have had people say, oh, you know, Dublin is closed, the city centre is gone, the public transport is gone, city centre businesses are losing out, there's disruption. And also, how come they can spend money on this and not on other things? Tell us why you believe this is a valuable event.

Bobby McDonagh (0:40)

Well, Ciara, you and Shane were talking earlier about Irishisms and Sean One-Creef talking about saying, sorry, all the time, but it's very much an Irishism for people to focus on the disruption and on the costs of something like this. It's an immensely important beating. You say countries representing 730 million people, 25% of the world's GDP.

And it's a remarkably important meeting in a world of disruption at the moment with a war in Europe, which is due to the Russian aggression. You have a very unpredictable American president. You have a China that is so powerful in trade terms that it's difficult for small countries to compete with that. So we have here a coming together, if you like, of a counterweight, which is led by the European Union, but with a much wider group of countries. And, you know, I said in my article today that we are fulfilling what Robert Emmett wanted, which is taking our place among the nations of the earth. So the people who achieved Irish independence and the generations that consolidated that independence didn't do so, so Ireland could be insular, so that we could say that we, thank God, were surrounded by water. They did so because they wanted Ireland to take its place on the earth. And that is very much what we're doing through our eighth presidency of the European Union, the European Council meeting tomorrow, and by this meeting today, which is immensely important. And the Taoiseach is chairing it along with the president of the European Council. So it is, if you like, showing that Europe is not helpless in the world.

All of the European countries, democratic countries have come together with Canada. And it's sending a broad message of solidarity, strength and security and connectivity, and especially solidarity with Ukraine at this very difficult time when there are negotiations taking place in...

Ciara Kelly (2:27)

And this is a crucial time, Bobby, isn't it? I mean, we can hardly ignore any longer the fact that hybrid warfare is being brought to our doorsteps. I'm sitting in a studio that was evacuated this day last week because of a bomb threat. Obviously a hoax and thankfully a hoax and happened in many other places as well, RTE, et cetera, et cetera.

But it is being brought to our doorstep. Many people I work with in this office, their children's schools were threatened with bombs yesterday. So you can no longer kind of really stick your head in the sand. Super value in the town next to mine was closed about two weeks ago because of the fridges being hacked. I mean, it's sort of becoming a daily occurrence that little disruptions that are presumably, we don't have the full evidence, but many people think it might be the state actor, that is Russia, that that's what's behind this. This is cyber warfare. This is hybrid war.

Bobby McDonagh (3:19)

Well, wherever it's coming from, and it could could well be Russia, it's happening. And you could add in Aer Lingus and Ryanair to that as well. So we do live in a difficult time, not just a war in Europe that's been going on longer than the First World War, but we have a completely unpredictable American president. And we don't know yet whether the US Congress will be able to rein him in in any way. So it's essential today to do a number of things. I mean, first is to show a message of solidarity among a group of significant countries that share certain values.

But then it's important, in addition to showing that solidarity with Ukraine, to do exactly what you're doing, which is to recall to ourselves and to the world that Europe has to act in defense of its own security. We have cyber attacks, we have hybrid warfare, we have disinformation, we have bad actors from around the world that want to undermine our democracy. We have outsiders funding far right parties in this country.

So it's not only important, but it's essential for Ireland's sake, not just for Europe in general, but for Ireland, that we should work together on these things. And of course, today's meeting was also about helping our economies through the fact that we have at least 15 of the 25 most innovative countries in the world taking part. When we act together, we can really influence things.