{"id":438813,"date":"2026-05-08T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/438813\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:15:09","slug":"icelandic-vote-on-eu-membership-could-be-a-big-moment-for-ireland-minister-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/438813\/","title":{"rendered":"Icelandic vote on EU membership could be a \u2018big moment\u2019 for Ireland \u2013 minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It would be a \u201cbig moment\u201d for Ireland if Iceland were to vote to restart negotiations to join the European Union, an Irish minister has said.<\/p>\n<p>The Nordic island country is expected to hold a referendum on whether or not to restart talks to join the EU on August 29th.<\/p>\n<p>Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009, but suspended the accession process in 2015 following a change of government.<\/p>\n<p>Its current Government, which came to power in late 2024, has put forward a proposal for a poll on continuing discussions with the EU to Althingi, the Icelandic parliament.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a Europe Day event in Dublin on Friday, Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne was asked about the possibility the country might vote in favour of reopening talks.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"715\" width=\"953\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/icelandic-vote-on-eu-membership-could-be-a-big-moment-for-ireland-minister.jpeg\" alt=\"Thomas Byrne\"\/>Thomas Byrne said any such decision would be welcomed. Photo: Bairbre Holmes\/PA.<\/p>\n<p>The Meath East TD said \u201cwe have to leave the decision for the people of Iceland\u201d but added \u201cwe would very much welcome it\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed poll is scheduled to take place during the Irish Presidency of the European Council, and Mr Byrne said: \u201cthey suspended their negotiations during the last Irish presidency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo if they were to restart from there, I think it would be a big moment for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Byrne said he met with his Icelandic counterpart, foreign minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir \u201cjust a few weeks ago\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He said he was able to discuss some concerns Icelanders have including issues on security and defence: \u201cThey\u2019re part of Nato, but I explained our position on security and defence, that that is a matter for Ireland, that we have an opt-out on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Irish language is also a model for how indigenous languages can benefit from EU membership, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are concerns in Iceland about the Icelandic language, whether that will survive European Union membership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told them, actually, on the contrary, it will thrive in the European Union.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the Irish language is a great example of that, it has been given new life by membership of the European Union and I would say that to the people of Iceland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"not-prose no-underline\" data-action=\"click\" data-category=\"Read more article clicked\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/no-doubt-eu-will-meet-trumps-tariff-deadline-irish-minister-says-1897208.html\" data-value=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breakingnews.ie\/ireland\/no-doubt-eu-will-meet-trumps-tariff-deadline-irish-minister-says-1897208.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1ca1b75b-8b77-46a6-9794-8c78bb274fe3.jpeg\" class=\"rounded-sm object-contain bg-transparent z-10 w-full h-full not-prose\" alt=\"\u2018No Doubt\u2019 Eu Will Meet Trump\u2019s Tariff Deadline, Minister Says\" width=\"278\" height=\"156\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        Ireland<\/p>\n<p>\u2018No doubt\u2019 EU will meet Trump\u2019s tariff deadline, minister says<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If the people of Iceland were to vote in favour of restarting negotiations there would also be another referendum on whether the country should join the EU when the talks conclude.<\/p>\n<p>Iceland, which has a population of 393 000, already has close ties with the EU and is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA).<\/p>\n<p>It is also part of the Schengen area which allows guarantees free movement of people between 29 European countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It would be a \u201cbig moment\u201d for Ireland if Iceland were to vote to restart negotiations to join&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-438813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}