The Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne TD, has welcomed Ireland’s progress under its A Career for EU strategy.

There has been record Irish interest in careers in the EU Institutions in 2026. 1,730 Irish people applied for the AD5 Graduate Recruitment Competition 2026, the EU’s main graduate recruitment competition. Ireland ranked third, across all 27 EU Member States, in terms of the increase in applications since the last AD5 competition in 2019.

The number of Irish officials working at entry and mid-level grades in the European Commission has increased from approximately 30 in 2022, to 43, at the end of 2025. This figure represents significant progress towards restoring the pipeline of Irish people working within the European civil service. The 2025 figure is just below 80% of Ireland’s guiding rate with continued efforts ongoing to boost Irish representation in the EU institutions.

In 2025, Ireland had the highest number of Seconded National Experts per capita among EU Member States in the European Commission, with 53 funded via the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Seconded National Expert funding scheme. Seconded National Experts bring Irish perspectives to EU policy, while those who participate in the programme, return with valuable expertise and networks from the EU institutions.

Irish citizens were also recently appointed to senior EU roles, including Dr. Lorraine Nolan as head of the EU Drugs Agency (EUDA) in January 2026, and Anthony Whelan, as Director General for Competition (DG COMP) in April 2026.

Welcoming the progress, Minister Byrne said: “Since I launched the ‘A Career for EU’ strategy in 2021, we have seen a significant step change in Irish representation within the EU institutions. Recent achievements under the ‘A Career for EU’ strategy show that sustained investment delivers results. I am determined to keep up this work including within communities, workplaces, schools and universities. The high number of Irish citizens applying for this year’s AD5 competition is really encouraging and I am determined to see a strong pipeline of Irish citizens continuing to enter the European civil service in the times ahead, who will work for the benefit of us all. I wish all candidates the very best of luck and encourage them to avail of the targeted support provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.”