2901. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health the work being carried out in her Department to prepare for Ireland assuming the Presidency of the Council of the European Union; the areas of health policy that she intends to prioritise; if this will include tobacco control policy, and in particular the need to revise the Tobacco Products Directive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42586/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Minister for Health: The Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union will take place during July – December 2026. My Department is pro-actively engaging with DFA and other Government Departments in the whole of Government approach to the preparations for the Irish Presidency.

Coordination

My Department is actively engaged in the Inter-Departmental Groups (IDGs) set up by DFA:

• IDG on Presidency Policy Planning, and
• IDG on Presidency Operational Planning.

In the Department, a cross-divisional intra-departmental group has been established since Q2 2024 to coordinate the preparations towards the Presidency - EPACT: European Presidency Action Coordination Team.

Health-related Presidency Calendar

My Department has contributed to the on-going planning for the Irish Presidency calendar of events and a list of proposed health-related events is being developed.

It is expected that most events proposed by my Department will take place in OPW-selected venues and that we will be able to leverage the procurement frameworks (catering, accommodation, transport), that DFA will be putting in place.

Ministerial Events

During the Presidency, I will chair the two Council meetings of the Health configuration of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council – an Informal in Dublin and a formal meeting in Brussels.

I will also be required to make an address to the European Parliament outlining the Health sector Workplan for the Irish Presidency.

Councils and Working Parties

The Health Team in the Permanent Representation of Ireland in Brussels (PRB) will chair the Working Party on Public Health (WPPH), the Working Party on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices (WPPMD) and Social Questions Working Group (SQWG) as required.

In addition, officials from the Department will also chair meetings of the Horizontal Group on Drugs (HDG) with the support of the Department of Justice, and CODEX Alimentarius Committees, such as Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA), Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF).

Development of Presidency themes

In relation to setting up the Health Presidency Agenda, the priorities will depend on several factors:

• the inherited work portfolio of legislative/non-legislative files which must be progressed during our Presidency,
• the Commission Work Programme, Commissioners’ Mission Letters 2024, Political Statement 2024, and the EU Strategic Agenda 2024-2029, as well as
• the non-legislative files that Ireland would like to advance during its Presidency.

I will steer the identification of health priorities. This process will be informed by the consultation with the wider Department via the EPACT forum, discussion with the Commission and TRIO countries.

At this point, it is not possible to confirm whether or not officials from the Department of Health will be responsible for the advancement of a revised EU Tobacco Products Directive during the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2026.

The timing of any legislative proposal to revise the Tobacco Products Directive is in the European Commission’s hands. If the European Commission brings forward a proposal in 2026, then Irish officials will be responsible for progressing that file during the second half of 2026 (i.e. during the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU).

I attended the recent EPSCO Health Council meeting in Luxembourg in June 2025. On behalf of Ireland, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Croatia and Spain, I called on the European Commission to bring forward the revised Tobacco Products Directive as soon as possible. This was an urgent call for action at EU level to protect young people from the harm caused by tobacco and nicotine products. I also held a bilateral meeting with the European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhely, to discuss Ireland’s preparation for Presidency of the Council, and raised the issue with him directly.