During the six-month presidency, Irish Ministers will take centre stage in European affairs, chairing council meetings where all 27 member states negotiate and forge common positions on key issues. There has been a noticeable increase in Ministers attending EU council meetings, in Brussels and elsewhere, rather than relying on senior Irish diplomats to represent them. Inside the department, officials said they wanted to arrange some bilateral sit-downs for O’Donovan on the margins of the Luxembourg trip. Out of the four EU meetings O’Donovan has been invited to so far this year, he has only made it to one. The Limerick TD was all set to travel to an EU council last month, but his flight was cancelled before take-off, due to a technical issue.
