![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ireland-s-neutrality-does-not-provide-immunity-from-threats-to-europe-kallas.jpg\")
Vice-president of the European Commission Kaja Kallas arrives at the European Political Community Summit in Tirana, Albania (Leon Neal\/PA)<\/p>\nIreland\u2019s military neutrality \u201cdoes not provide immunity\u201d from threats facing Europe, the EU\u2019s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said.<\/p>\n
The vice-president of the European Commission visited Dublin on Tuesday to discuss Ireland\u2019s presidency of the EU Council, a six-month term which begins next month.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Government will publish its presidency programme, setting out its priorities for the EU\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Ireland’s proud tradition of military neutrality is not in question, but neutrality does not provide immunity from the threats Europe faces today. No country in Europe is off Russia’s target list<\/p>\n
Kaja Kallas<\/p>\n
Kallas said the priorities of defending values, strengthening security and boosting competitiveness reflect \u201cexactly what Europe needs\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope must remain principled, a global actor, but principles alone are not enough,\u201d she said at a press conference at Iveagh House in Dublin alongside Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope must also have the hard power to defend them, and that means investing in our security, strengthening our defence capabilities, and building the capacity to protect our citizens and our interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIreland\u2019s proud tradition of military neutrality is not in question, but neutrality does not provide immunity from the threats Europe faces today.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo country in Europe is off Russia\u2019s target list.\u201d<\/p>\n
McEntee said that security and defence was \u201cno longer a future challenge\u201d and was \u201can immediate responsibility\u201d.<\/p>\n
Vice-president of the European Commission Kaja Kallas arrives at the European Political Community Summit in Tirana, Albania (Leon Neal\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cMaritime security will be a particular area of focus throughout our presidency, including efforts to enhance our maritime domain awareness, protect critical infrastructure, and strengthen resilience in our shared maritime environment,\u201d Ms McEntee said.<\/p>\n
Kallas said Russia\u2019s shadow fleet was \u201ca serious threat\u201d and there had been a surge in hybrid attacks on critical infrastructure such as undersea cables.<\/p>\n
She said now was \u201cnot the time for complacency\u201d and that Ireland\u2019s 55% increase in defence spending by 2030 sent \u201ca clear signal that Ireland is stepping up\u201d.<\/p>\n
Discussing the conflict in the Middle East, Kallas said a return to \u201cfull-scale war\u201d would come at a \u201ctremendous cost\u201d and said the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz was \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said that while there was \u201ccertainly a change of attitude\u201d in relation to EU action against Israel, \u201cthe question is whether it\u2019s enough\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c(For) sanctions, for example, we need all the countries to agree. We don\u2019t have that.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781024230_233_ireland-s-neutrality-does-not-provide-immunity-from-threats-to-europe-kallas.jpg\")
Discussing the conflict in the Middle East, Ms Kallas said a return to \u2018full-scale war\u2019 would come at a \u2018tremendous cost\u2019 (Mahmoud Illean\/AP)<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to the trade issues, we need qualified majority, and as you know, it\u2019s a very complicated way of calculating it, but we don\u2019t have that either at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the two leaders also discussed Limerick-based Aughinish Alumina, following reports that sanctioned Russian defence companies may be benefitting from alumina from the plant.<\/p>\n
The Government is carrying out an investigation into the reports and is to inform the European Commission of its findings.<\/p>\n
Kallas met with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin at Government Buildings earlier on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
She signed the visitors\u2019 book at Government Buildings before posing for photos and being shown paintings of former Irish president, ex taoiseach and founder of Fianna F\u00e1il Eamon de Valera and Irish revolutionary Michael Collins.<\/p>\n
Martin has been visiting heads of state in recent weeks as Ireland prepares to take on the EU presidency.<\/p>\n
The EU Council, representing the EU\u2019s heads of government and ministers, is in charge of legislation and involves gatherings of EU ministers with similar briefs.<\/p>\n
For six months, Ireland will take responsibility for planning and chairing EU Council meetings and negotiations, and representing the council in discussions with the European Parliament and European Commission.<\/p>\n
About 30,000 delegates will visit Ireland over the six-month period, with meetings taking place over four-and-a-half months when the breaks over August and the Christmas period are excluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s military neutrality \u201cdoes not provide immunity\u201d from threats facing Europe, the EU\u2019s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-490951","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\/490951","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=490951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}