UK&Ireland summit to be held in Cork in early 2026

The second UK&Ireland summit will be held in Cork in early 2026, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed.

Renewable energy, cultural collaboration, and the Irish and British economies are set to be discussed at the meeting, which will be attended by Mr Martin, British prime minister Keir Starmer, and a number of ministers from both governments.

The first UK-Ireland summit was held in Liverpool last March, with Mr Martin and Mr Starmer agreeing a wide-ranging programme of new and enhanced strategic co-operation between Ireland and Britain, entitled UK-Ireland 2030, to be taken forward by both governments.

The summit and the UK&Ireland 2030 programme for strategic co-operation represent the most extensive policy engagement between the Irish Government and the British government in a generation.

The March summit was also attended by Tánaiste and then minister for foreign affairs and minister for defence Simon Harris; then minister for education and youth Helen McEntee; minister for climate, energy, and the environment and minister for transport Darragh O’Brien; and minister for justice, home affairs, and migration Jim O’Callaghan.

Speaking after his bilateral meeting with Mr Starmer in Wales at the end of last week, Mr Martin said: “We have agreed that the next annual summit between the UK and Ireland will be in Cork, early in the new year.

“We will be discussing a range of issues — renewable energy, in particular, our respective economies, stronger cultural collaboration between our two countries — and there will be a number of ministers attending from both sides, just as we did in Liverpool last year.

“It’s an important event because it cements and it reflects the really strengthening and warm relationship between the UK government and the Irish Government.”

Mr Martin also confirmed in the Dáil last week that he had recently met Mr Starmer.

He added: “We looked ahead to the second UK-Ireland summit, which Ireland will host in the spring of 2026.”