Minister McEntee to convene meeting of Government Trade Forum

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Helen McEntee TD, will convene a meeting of the Government Trade Forum today, Monday 2 March.

The Forum will consider a range of international developments, including events over the weekend in Iran and the Middle East and Gulf, EU-US trade and tariffs, Ireland’s global St. Patrick’s Day engagements and priorities, and the Government’s progress in implementing the Action Plan on Market Diversification.

This will be the eleventh meeting of the Forum since its establishment early in 2025.

The meeting will also be attended by the Tánaiste and Minister of Finance, Simon Harris TD, Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Jack Chambers TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD and Minister of State for Trade Promotion, AI and Digital Transformation, Niamh Smyth TD.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Minister McEntee said: “I will update the Forum on events over the weekend in the Gulf. While our focus remains on assisting Irish citizens there, the Government is carefully following the potential economic and trade impacts that may arise from the instability in the region. It is too soon to tell what this will mean for Ireland but we have significant exports to the region itself and it is also of course a major global business and transit hub for goods and energy products.

“More broadly over the past days and weeks, we have seen significant developments in international trade. These have included the US Supreme Court decision in respect of US tariffs, and the collective response of the European Union. As Chair of the Government Trade Forum, today’s meeting is timely as it will allow Government to continue to engage with and hear the views of key stakeholders in Ireland’s economy, and to bring direction to the conversation.

“Our response and decision-making must continue to be deliberate and strategic. The Trade Forum plays a pivotal role in this and I am grateful to our Members for the frank and open discussions being facilitated at the Forum.

“St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching. This year, Ireland will undertake the largest St. Patrick’s Day programme in the history of the State, right across the globe. Economic diplomacy is central to these engagements and front and centre in our messages to our international partners this year will be the importance of trade, investment and market diversification.

“Diversification remains a key aim of our overall economic policy and later this morning I will update the Forum on the first progress report on the implementation of the Government’s Action Plan on Market Diversification. There are a number of early achievements in the Plan which are already helping to support Irish business, including a new Enterprise Ireland office in Zurich, new Tourism Ireland offices in Dubai and Shanghai and my own Department’s strengthening of our economic presence in key missions. This is evidence of this Government’s commitment to helping Irish business respond to current trade turbulence and together with Minister Peter Burke we will be publishing the Implementation Plan later this week setting out progress to date.”

ENDS

Press Office

2 March 2026