IIEA Talks

This event, supported by Janssen Sciences Ireland, features a keynote address by the acting Deputy Director-General for Health at the European Commission, Mr John F. Ryan. This is followed by a panel discussion that looks at the future of the European Health Union before a moderated Q&A session. This expert panel explores what the new Health Union could mean for Ireland, how the health service in Ireland performs compared to European peers, and what lessons could be learned from the best performing European countries. The panel is comprised of: Professor Mary Horgan - President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and world-renowned expert in infectious disease Mr Tony O’Brien – Former Director-General of the Health Service Executive Dr Sheelah Connolly - Senior Research Officer at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Professor Paul Browne – Professor/Consultant Haematologist at St. James's Hospital. The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the EU’s COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy in particular, has shown the capacity for the EU institutions to facilitate effective coordination among European countries to protect the health of the European citizenry. Building on these experiences, the European Commission is in the process of establishing an ambitious European Health Union, in which all EU countries can prepare and respond together more effectively to health crises when they emerge. The European Health Union will seek to ensure that medical supplies remain available, affordable, and innovative to all EU citizens, and that European countries can work together to improve prevention, treatment, and aftercare for diseases such as cancer. This presents an important new departure in EU policy which may have major implications for domestic healthcare across the EU. About the Speakers: John F. Ryan, Acting Deputy Director-General for Health, DG SANTE at the European Commission. Professor Mary Horgan, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Mr Tony O’Brien, Former Director-General at the Health Service Executive. Dr Sheelah Connolly, Senior Research Officer at the Economic and Social Research Institute. Professor Paul Browne, Professor/Consultant Hematologist at St. James’s Hospital.

This panel discussion reflects on Ireland’s six-month Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which ended on the 7th November 2022. Speakers: Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Bjørn Berge. Senator Fiona O’Loughlin, Head of Ireland’s Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Professor Aoife Nolan, an Irish independent expert to the Council of Europe's European Committee of Social Rights

In this interview, IIEA Researcher, Leanne Digney talks to Ireland’s newly appointed UN Youth Delegates, Jessica Gill and David Giles, about their experience at United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week and their hopes for the future role of youth in multilateral diplomacy. This interview is part of the Global Europe podcast series which is sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs

In the eighth episode of IIEA Insights, David O’Sullivan, Director General at the IIEA, talks to Frank Luntz, political, communications consultant and pollster. They discuss the upcoming midterm elections, the contentious races, candidates, and likely presidential candidates in 2024

In her address to the IIEA, for the fifth lecture of the 2022 Development Matters series, supported by Irish Aid, Ms Åsa Regnér, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women discusses conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in areas experiencing humanitarian crises and conflict. The term “conflict-related sexual violence” refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilisation, forced marriage and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict. Ms Regner highlights ways CRSV can be prevented, responded to, and addressed in existing humanitarian crises in Ethiopia, DRC, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Syria. About the Speaker: Ms. Åsa Regnér has been Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women since May 2018. Prior to this, Ms. Regnér served as Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality of Sweden. She has extensive experience in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment, having held various leadership positions in government, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the United Nations. She has led important processes and campaigns as a leading advocate for feminism and gender equality in Sweden and beyond.

In his address to the IIEA, Secretary Sannino, discusses the EU's place in a changing global order, the tools that the EU has at its disposal to meet the challenges it faces, and the role of the EEAS in meeting these challenges. About the Speaker: Stefano Sannino has served as the Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) of the European Union since 1 January 2021 and was the EEAS Deputy Secretary General for Economic and Global Issues at the EEAS from April 2020 to December 2020. He previously served as the Ambassador of Italy to Spain and Andorra (2016-2020), and as Permanent Representative of Italy to the EU in (2013-2016).

In his address to the IIEA, United States Congressman Brendan F. Boyle, who serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, is chairman of the Congressional European Union Caucus, and is a member of the Friends of Ireland Caucus, discusses what a new prime minister and monarch in the United Kingdom is likely to mean for the future of US-UK and EU-UK relations. Congressman Boyle also assesses the possible impact of the US midterm elections on US relations with the EU and the UK. About the Speaker: Congressman Brendan Boyle was born and raised in the Olney neighborhood of Pennsylvania’s 2nd Congressional District. A first generation American, Congressman Boyle’s father emigrated from Ireland in search of a better life. The first in his family to attend college, he attended the University of Notre Dame on a scholarship and later graduated from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2008, Boyle became the first Democrat to represent Pennsylvania’s 170th state legislative district. In 2014, he was sent to Washington to represent his hometown in Congress. Now in his fourth term, Congressman Boyle proudly represents the 2nd Congressional district.

In her address to the IIEA, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee outlines her work on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) and the putting in place of integrated prevention measures. As a key priority for the EU and the Council of Europe, the Minister discusses DSGBV in the context of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of Europe and examine the role played by Ireland in tackling this issue at a multilateral level. About the Speaker: Helen McEntee TD is the Minister for Justice. She was appointed to this role in June 2020. Helen was elected to Dáil Éireann in a By-Election in March 2013, and re-elected in the February 2016 general election. Deputy McEntee was appointed by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD to be Minister for Mental Health and Older People at the Department of Health in May 2016 as part of the new Partnership Government. In June 2017, as part of a government reshuffle by newly appointed Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, Minister McEntee was promoted to the position of Minister of State for EU Affairs.

The greater Middle East region has been going through various trials and tribulations over the last decade, with different axes of power forming within. Those poles of influence are homegrown – but they also connect to external ones, far beyond the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which brings about an interesting set of geopolitical realities for the region. Against the backdrop of increasing pressures on the international system, how does the geopolitical order look from within MENA? What considerations are on the minds of power brokers in the region? What might the future look like? In his intervention, Dr Hisham Hellyer addresses these questions. About the Speaker: Dr Hisham (H.A.) Hellyer FRSA is a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) and a fellow of the Centre for Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Cambridge. Concurrently, he is a Senior Associate Fellow in International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. Dr Hellyer is regularly included in the scholarly section of the annual global list of ‘The 500 Most Influential Muslims’ in the world. Following the 2005 London bombings, Dr Hellyer was appointed as Deputy Convenor of the UK Government’s Taskforce as an independent academic expert, and served as the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s first Economic and Social Research Council Fellow, as a non-partisan independent scholar. In 2020, Dr Hellyer was elected as Fellow (FRSA) of the Royal Society of Arts in London due to his contributions to his subject areas, particularly in the international relations of the West and the Middle East, security studies, and belief.

In the seventh episode of IIEA Insights, IIEA Director General David O’Sullivan is joined by Bruce Stokes, Visiting Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, to discuss trends in transatlantic relations in a time of war. They discuss public opinion on both sides of the Atlantic, the actors most affected by war in Ukraine, the potential for future conflicts such as in Taiwan, and the likelihood of Europe to intervene in these conflicts