Minister McEntee visits Poland ahead of Ireland’s EU Presidency

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence, Helen McEntee TD, visits Poland today (27 April), where she will hold meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

Speaking ahead of her visit, Minister McEntee said: “I am looking forward to having a substantive exchange in Warsaw on key EU files and wider foreign policy issues with Deputy Prime Minister Sikorski. With just over two months to go before we assume the Presidency of the EU Council, I will set out our priorities, including in relation to competitiveness, EU enlargement – where there is renewed momentum – the EU’s future budget and the values that underpin our Union. I also expect us to review recent developments within the EU, including the general election in Hungary. I look forward to hearing Deputy Prime Minister Sikorski’s perspectives on how we can work constructively with the incoming Hungarian government.”

With Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz, Minister McEntee will discuss UNIFIL, Presidency priorities and Ukraine. Minister McEntee said: “Our countries work closely every day in the European Union on the major challenges facing Europe and the wider world. Ireland and Poland are united in our unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. Our peacekeepers serve together in UNIFIL’s Irish/Polish Battalion, IRISHPOLBATT in Lebanon.”

During her visit, the Minister will also discuss Irish-Polish relations. She commented: “I am glad to say that the connections between Ireland and Poland have never been closer. Our economic ties are going from strength to strength, with two-way trade between Ireland and Poland having risen to over €10 billion. Indeed, while in Warsaw, I will meet with Irish investors and discuss the considerable opportunities to build on this already impressive economic partnership.

“Of course, people-to-people links are at the heart of our relationship. Around 100,000 Polish people live in Ireland and are making an important contribution to the economic and cultural life of our country. I look forward to informing my Polish counterparts that Polish is the third most spoken language in Ireland.”

While in Warsaw, Minister McEntee will lay a wreath at the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during the Second World War. She will then pay a visit to the POLIN museum which covers 1,000 years of Jewish life in Poland, including the experience of the Jewish people during the Second World War, of occupation by Germany, life in the Ghetto, and the Holocaust.