'Does Ireland have a Europe strategy?'

Europe is in flux. Countries are re-arming in response to growing security threats. Economic security risks are leading to a rethinking of EU state aid rules, competition and trade policies. With public opinion shifting against immigration across the continent, how the EU and its members handle asylum applications from outside the bloc is rising up the agenda. Dr Eoin Drea, Senator Michael McDowell and Dr Kathryn Simpson share their views on how Ireland is positioning itself on these issues, how they think it should position itself, and how have Ireland’s alliances with other member states have evolved in these rapidly changing circumstances?

Dr Eoin Drea is Senior Researcher in the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies focusing on the political economy of the European Union, the future of the Eurozone, EU-UK and EU-US relations. He is a regular media contributor and his opinion pieces have appeared in Foreign Policy, Politico, The Guardian, The Times of London and The Irish Times among others.


Senator Michael McDowell was elected to Seanad Éireann in 2016. He served as Attorney General from 1999 to 2002, as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform from 2002 until 2007, and as Tánaiste from 2006 until 2007. He is also currently a Senior Counsel, an Adjunct Professor in the UCD Sutherland School of Law and a weekly columnist with the Irish Times.


Dr Kathryn Simpson is Associate Professor of Politics & Economics of the EU and Director of Research at Keele University. Her research interests include Ireland’s relationship with the EU, political behaviour and public opinion in the EU, UK & Ireland, the politics, and economics of Brexit on the island of Ireland and Ireland-UK relations post-Brexit. Her books include ‘Nationalism in Internationalism: Ireland’s Relationship with the EU’.