Ireland's journey in the European Union

Ireland joins the European family

After several years of preparation and a previous application, Ireland signed the Treaty of Accession to the join the European Economic Community, the precursor to today's European Union, in 1972. As membership of this EEC resulted in the Oireachtas no longer being the sole law making power in the State, it was necessary to hold a referendum to amend the Irish Constitution.

The referendum was held on the 10 May 1972, with more than four in every five people in the electorate voting in favour of the referendum. Ireland joined the EEC on 1 January 1973.

Directly elected representatives to the European Parliament

Ireland hosted its second Presidency of the Council of the European Communities from July to December 1979 under the leadership of Taoiseach Jack Lynch, followed by Taoiseach Charles Haughey.

In June 1979, European citizens had for the first time directly elected representatives to the European Parliament. Ireland elected 15 representatives, or Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

The first President of the European Parliament was Simone Veil. Simone Veil appointed an Irish woman, Anne-Marie Manson-Hennon, to the President’s cabinet team of special advisers. Mrs Manson-Hennon’s duties included updating the President on the work of the Parliament’s 15 committees.

Member states agree increased famine relief and support for Africa

Ireland hosted its third Presidency of the Council of the European Communities from July to December 1984 under the leadership of Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. During the Presidency, the EEC signed the Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement with China.

A significant achievement of this Presidency was its work in achieving agreement on the issue of humanitarian aid in Africa. During this time, member states agreed to allocate emergency monetary and food aid to Africa as famine relief measures.

How European treaties are approved in Ireland

On Christmas Eve 1986, President Patrick Hillery signed the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986, bringing the provisions of the Single European Act into Irish law. However, that same day an injunction was successfully sought from the High Court preventing the Irish Government from ratifying the treaty without first putting the matter to a referendum.

In April 1987, in Crotty v. An Taoiseach, the Supreme Court ruled that as the Single European Act "was a significant and decisive step along the path to a single European foreign policy" it could only be ratified by referendum. Held the following summer, 70% of the electorate voted in favour of it.

Irish leadership in a changing Europe

Ireland hosted its fourth Presidency of the Council of the European Communities from January to June 1990 under the leadership of Taoiseach Charles Haughey. 

During the Presidency, a special European Council meeting was held in Dublin in April 1990. The Council agreed a common approach to German unification to allow for the smooth integration of the former territory of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) into the Union.

It also agreed a common approach to Community relations with Central and Eastern European countries after the fall of the "Iron Curtain".

Ireland hosted its fifth Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July to December 1996 under the leadership of Taoiseach John Bruton.

During the Presidency, agreement was reached on a variety of matters concerning the introduction of a single European currency. These included the legal framework underpinning the use of the euro, the Stability and Growth Pact and a new Exchange Rate Mechanism.

The "Dublin Declaration on Employment" was also adopted during the Presidency. The declaration set out national and community measures to stimulate employment across the community. Ireland and ten other member states formally started using the euro as official currency, replacing their national currencies, on 1 January 2002.

The Day of Welcomes

While holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2004, Ireland witnessed a "Day of Welcomes".

This was the realisation of a significant enlargement of the EU, when on 1 May, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia became part of the Union's family as it expanded from 15 to 25 countries.

In March 2012, the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance, otherwise known as the Fiscal Stability Treaty, was signed by 25 member states. Initially, the treaty was negotiated as a form of enhanced co-operation between member states as the Czech Republic and United Kingdom did not participate in the treaty.

The Irish people passed the treaty in a referendum held on 31 May 2012.

Ireland’s Presidency delivers major agreements to support stability, growth and reform

1 January 2013 marked the 40^th year anniversary of Ireland’s membership of the EU. On the same day, Ireland assumed its seventh Presidency of the Council of the European Union under the leadership of Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

The themes of the Presidency were stability, jobs and growth. During the Presidency, agreements were reached on the seven-year €960 billion EU Budget (Multiannual Financial Framework or MFF), a single supervisor for the banking sector, and a €16 billion budget for education and training, youth and sport.

Agreements were also reached on the 7^th Environmental Action Programme, reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy and a negotiating mandate for an EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Irish gains full status as an official and working language of the EU

On 1 January 2022, a derogation limiting the amount of material published by the EU institutions that could be translated into Irish expired. This had been in place since 2007 and was gradually reduced since 2015.

As a result, Irish is now on an equal footing to the other 23 official languages of the EU, with full status as an official and working language.