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From:Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

The Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne TD, has today (10 August) welcomed Ireland’s progress under itsA Career for EUstrategy.

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.”

Further information on EU careers, current competitions and the supports available to Irish applicants is available athttps://www.ireland.ie/en/eu-jobs/

The whole-of-Government strategy,A Career for EU, aims to increase the number of Irish citizens in EU institutions and agencies. It achieves this by informing citizens about EU roles, supporting candidates during recruitment competitions, and advocating for hiring reforms.

Outreach activities continued in 2026 across schools, higher education institutions, social media, and professional networks to encourage greater awareness of careers in the European Union. 2026 awareness raising activities to date have targeted the AD5 Graduate competition, the European Commission Blue Book traineeship, and AD7 competitions for audit and ICT specialists.

Under theA Career for EUstrategy, the Government has expanded supports for Irish candidates, with roughly 400 people so far in 2026 availing of resources, which include practice packs for reasoning tests, EU knowledge resources, as well as interview preparation supports. Irish citizens can access these supports by [email protected]

Details of EU Institutions’ upcoming recruitment competitions are available athttps://eu-careers.europa.eu/en/upcoming-selection-procedures