International Relations
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
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Barry Ward (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I support that call for the change on Chesterfield Avenue. As convener of the Ireland-France Parliamentary Friendship Group, I support any move we can make to solidify that historic and cordial relationship we have with France. I acknowledge the increase in our diplomatic footprint in France that the Minister outlined. We have a great team on the ground, and that is yielding results in its own way.
It is a stated aim of the European affairs committee to advance negotiations to make Ireland part of L'Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie. As the Minister knows – she represented Ireland at it - Ireland has observer status at L'Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. While we are a part of that organisation, we are not a part of the associated parliamentary organisation. I ask the Minister to commit to support an application by the Oireachtas to become part of the L'Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie. It is not specifically a French thing but, rather, a French language thing. The French language is spoken and studied by more people in Ireland than any other language, so it is an important move to solidify that relationship.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01