Helen McEntee to chair Trade Forum
By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association
Ministerial visits to the US and elsewhere for St Patrick’s Day are part of a plan to “double down” on international trade promotion, the Minister for Foreign Affairs has said.
Helen McEntee is to chair the Government Trade Forum for the first time on Friday.
The forum is meeting for the 10th time since it was established last year an will discuss the action plan for market diversification and trade promotion.
It comes after a week of uncertainty in the trading relationship between the US and the EU, which culminated in President Donald Trump withdrawing a threat of tariffs against the UK and other European allies over his ambitions for territory in Greenland – with Washington citing a favourable deal with Nato for its decision.
Recent events have shown the need for us to double down on our efforts.
Speaking ahead of Friday’s meeting, Ms McEntee said: “As recent days have demonstrated, uncertainty remains the prevailing character of the global trading environment.”
She said the Government has always been of the view that the only way forward to resolve issues of concern on international trade is through dialogue and engagement.
Ms McEntee said: “Ireland has been and is committed to working closely with our EU and wider European partners in response to these issues.”
She said trade promotion plans for 2026 includes “State engagements across the globe during the St Patrick’s Day celebrations”.
She added: “Recent events have shown the need for us to double down on our efforts and our St Patrick’s Day programme will reflect that with a heavy emphasis on economic and trade promotion.”
The meeting will also be attended by the Tánaiste and Minister of Finance, Simon Harris TD, as well as Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne will also be attending as the Government continues to deal with farmers’ frustration over the EU-Mercosur deal, while the Minister of State for artificial intelligence Niamh Smyth participates amid garda investigations into alleged child sex abuse material created through the Grok AI tool.
