IIEA Talks

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the largest combined arms operation to take place in Europe since the Second World War, and a watershed moment in modern European history. It prompts questions about whether Europe is exiting the era of the "Long Peace" and entering a more turbulent epoch. This conflict has led EU Member States, such as Germany, to review national positions on defence, while traditionally non-aligned states are evaluating their own status in this new geopolitical landscape. This IIEA panel discusses Russia’s war in Ukraine and analyses the implications for European and Irish security and defence.     About the Speakers:  Donnacha Ó Beacháin is a professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University where he lectures on post-Soviet politics and unrecognised states. He has been principal investigator of two major EU-funded projects focusing on the post-Soviet space and is the author of the forthcoming publication The Domestic Politics of Post-Soviet Unrecognised States which is due to be published in 2023.  Judy Dempsey is a Senior Fellow at Carnegie Europe. Judy Dempsey has worked for the International Herald Tribune as a columnist. She was the diplomatic correspondent for the Financial Times covering NATO and European Union enlargement. She is also the author of the book The Merkel Phenomenon published in 2013.  Ben Tonra is a professor of International Relations at UCD School of Politics and International Relations. There, Professor Tonra teaches, researches and publishes in European foreign, security and defence policy, Irish foreign, security and defence policy and International Relations theory.

In his annual State of the Union address to the IIEA, Minister Coveney will reflect on the EU’s central role in tackling the most pressing issues of our day including Conflict, Climate and Covid-19. While he adverts to the successful role that the EU has played around vaccine leadership and pandemic recovery, he warns that we cannot be naïve to the difficulty of the threats we face. He recalls that this moment reminds us that neither peace nor progress are inevitable, but that the experience of recent decades provides evidence that they are always possible. The Minister makes the case that the EU and its partners need to do better to stand up for their values and that these need to be reflected in actions and not just words. The Minister also reflects on the last 50 years of Ireland’s membership of the EU and how this has helped elevate Ireland to a position where it now has a respected and credible voice in international affairs. He argues that this privileged position comes with the responsibility that this voice should be used to continue to advocate for a principled, rules-based and just multi-lateral order. About the Speaker: Simon Coveney TD is the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence. He is also the Deputy Leader of Fine Gael. He previously served as Tánaiste from November 2017 to June 2020, and Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government as well as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. He was appointed as Minister for Defence for the first time in 2014 and for a second time in 2020. He represents the Cork South Central constituency.

Special Coordinator Tor Wennesland discusses developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, and the region, as well as their implications for the Middle East peace process. Looking ahead, the Special Coordinator assesses challenges and opportunities in supporting the peace process in the current environment. As part of the IIEA's Global Europe Project, this webinar was supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs About the Speaker: Mr. Wennesland serves as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, as well as the Envoy of the Secretary-General to the Quartet. Mr. Wennesland is a career diplomat who joined the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983. Until his appointment as Special Coordinator, Mr. Wennesland was Norway’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process, which included responsibility for Norway’s chairmanship of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee.

In order to mark International Women’s Day 2022, the IIEA welcomes distinguished panellists, Shona Murray and Mary Regan for a conversation entitled Reporting the EU. This panel discussion focuses on gender equality in the EU, the success or failure of EU initiatives to address gender issues and the divergences between Member States on women’s rights. This discussion is framed by the overarching theme of gender equality and lived experiences reporting on EU affairs to wide-ranging audiences.  About the Speakers: Shona Murray is Europe correspondent with Euronews. Previously she was Political Correspondent with the Irish Independent, and Foreign Affairs correspondent with Newstalk. She has specialized in Brexit and has reported from dozens of countries such as Israel/Gaza, Iraq, Turkey/Syria border, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Haiti and Guantanamo Bay. She is alum of the US State Department Edward R. Murrow programme for journalists. Mary Regan is an award-winning journalist who has covered politics for both print and broadcast for more than ten years. She currently works as political reporter for RTE News and contributes reports and analysis to a wide range of programmes for the broadcaster and presents the European Parliament Report. From Galway, she has a BA in Journalism from DCU and MA in European Studies from UCD.  She joined RTE from the Sunday Business Post where she held the positions of News Editor and Public Affairs Editor. She was previously Political Editor for the Irish Examiner UTV Ireland.  In 2012, Mary was invited by the US State Department to take part in the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Programme for emerging young leaders.

In her address to the IIEA, Professor Anu Bradford of Columbia Law School, explores her seminal work on the “Brussels Effect” about how the European Union plays a powerful role as a global regulatory power, and how this role may evolve in the future in the context of regulatory battles for the digital economy between the EU, US and China. About the Speaker: Anu Bradford is Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organizations at Columbia Law School. She is also a director for Columbia’s European Legal Studies Center, a Senior Scholar at Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business at Columbia Business School and a nonresident scholar in the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her research focuses on international trade law, European Union law and comparative and international antitrust law. She holds an S.J.D. and LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and a law degree from the University of Finland. Prior to her academic career, Professor Bradford practiced competition and EU law in Brussels, and was an advisor in the Finnish Parliament and the European Parliament. She is the author of “The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World” (OUP 2020), named one of the Best Books of 2020 by Foreign Affairs, and of the forthcoming “Battle for the Soul of the Global Internet” (OUP 2023).

In his address to the IIEA, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson outlines the position of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. He outlines why he believes removing the Irish Sea border is essential for Northern Ireland's place in the UK Internal Market and for the constitutional integrity of the UK as a whole. He also discusses the implications of the Protocol for North-South cooperation. About the Speaker: The Rt. Hon Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP is the leader of the DUP and has been MP for the Lagan Valley constituency since 1997. Sir Jeffrey became the Leader of the DUP on Thursday, 30 June 2021. He previously served as an MLA, also for Lagan Valley, from 2003-2010. During that time, he was appointed as Chairman of the Assembly & Executive Review Committee and subsequently as a Junior Minister in the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

According to Bruno Maçães, a new competition was already underway between alternative geopolitical models prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Maçães argues that the greatest threat to national security is no longer other states, but the environment itself. This, in turn, raises the question as to which countries will emerge as the winners and losers in a new geopolitical order. In his address to the IIEA, Mr Maçães explores how COVID-19 has already transformed the global system, and how it serves as a prelude to a planet afflicted with climate change. About the Speaker: Bruno Maçães is a Senior Advisor at Flint Global and Senior Fellow at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies. A former Secretary of State for European Affairs for Portugal, he is the author of several books, including: ‘Geopolitics for the End Time: From the Pandemic to the Climate Crisis’; ‘Belt and Road: A Chinese World Order’; ‘History has Begun: The Birth of a New America’; and ‘The Dawn of Eurasia: On the Trail of the New World Order’. He advises some of the world's leading companies on geopolitics and technology.

The Conference on the Future of Europe Citizens’ Panel in Dublin Castle will take place on 25-27 February 2022, hosted by the IIEA, when citizens from across the EU will discuss the future of European economic, cultural, sport and digital policies. This is the third and final event in a series co-organised with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Dublin on the influence and role of the European Parliament in shaping the future of the EU in the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe. About the Speakers and Chair: Colm Markey is an MEP representing the Midlands-North-West constituency for Fine Gael since 2020 and currently serves on the Agricultural and Rural Development (AGRI) in the European Parliament. Prior to becoming an MEP, Mr. Markey was a member and former chair of Louth County Council (2009-2020) and is the former president of the Irish young farmers association, Macra na Feirme. He is the current leader of the Louth Leader partnership for SMEs and runs a family farm in Togher, Co. Louth. Laurence Farreng is a French MEP representing Mouvement Démocrate (MoDem) since 2019, and is also a local councillor and the former Director of Communication, Events and Protocol for the city of Pau in southwestern France. Ms. Farreng is the Renew Europe Group Coordinator for the Culture and Education (CULT) Committee in the European Parliament, a member of the European Parliament’s delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe and is the founder of the Bonjour l’Europe initiative facilitating youth placements in cities and universities across Europe. Josianne Cutajar MEP has represented the Maltese Labour Party in the European Parliament since 2019. She is the Vice-President of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand and serves on the Industry, Energy and Research (ITRE) Committee focusing on digital policy and the single market. Before becoming an MEP, Ms. Cutajar worked in the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta where she worked on issues of equal gender representation, domestic and gender-based violence. She holds a Doctor of Laws and a Masters of Laws in European and Comparative Law from the University of Malta. The event chair is David Farrell, Professor of Politics at University College Dublin (UCD), and Chair of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). Professor Farrell is an internationally regarded expert in political representation, elections, deliberative democracy and mini-publics. He has served as a research leader of the Irish Citizens’ Assembly, a member of the Stewarding Group of the Scottish Citizens’ Assembly and the Welsh Assembly's Expert Panel on Electoral Reform. Professor Farrell previously served as the Head of the School of Politics and International Relations at UCD, and professor and head of social sciences at the University of Manchester. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

As debate surrounding the future of the EU’s fiscal rules and the implementation of the bloc’s COVID-19 recovery fund continues, and with important international developments in corporate taxation and trade set to impact the future of Ireland’s economy, the IIEA welcomes Pearse Doherty T.D., Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson on Finance, to deliver a keynote address. Deputy Doherty provides Sinn Féin’s perspective on the EU’s economic policy priorities and outlines Sinn Féin’s policies to shape Ireland’s place in the global economy. About the Speaker: Pearse Doherty is the Finance Spokesperson and Deputy Leader in Dáil Éireann for Sinn Féin, serving as TD for the constituency of Donegal and formerly Donegal South-West since 2010. He is currently a member of the Ard Comhairle of the party and a member of the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure & Reform, and Taoiseach.

This seminar explores the potential of the European hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is expected to play an important role in achieving a carbon-neutral economy in Europe by 2050. Green hydrogen also has many possible applications in the Irish context, and while currently representing a modest fraction of the global energy mix, projections indicate that clean hydrogen could meet approximately 25% of the world’s energy demand by mid-century. In recent years, several European countries, including Portugal and Germany, have issued comprehensive national hydrogen strategies. These frameworks provide critical insights for Ireland as policymakers consider the role for green hydrogen in meeting the state’s climate and energy targets. In this session, three international experts explore the potential role of green hydrogen as the EU transitions to a carbon-neutral future.  About the Speakers:   Dr Isabel Cabrita is Professor of Energy Solutions at the Institute of Education and Sciences, Lisbon. She also serves as a Researcher at CERENA, a Portuguese research and technological development institute which specialises in innovative and sustainable energy solutions. From 2015-2021, she was Head of Research Directorate-General of Energy and Geology, Portugal. In this role, Dr Cabrita oversaw the implementation of the Portuguese Energy and Climate Plan, and Portugal’s National Hydrogen Strategy. Dr Cabrita has produced more than 300 publications and served as guest editor of an edition of Energies in 2021. Franz Lehner is Head of International Cooperation at NOW GmbH, the German Organisation for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology. NOW GmbH is responsible for the coordination and management of the German Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology and the Electromobility Model Regions programme of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure of Germany. An engineer by training, Mr Lehner has more than 10 years of professional experience focusing on hydrogen, fuel cells, renewable fuels and electric mobility. Before joining NOW in early 2021, Mr Lehner was Managing Consultant at the international energy transition consulting firm E4tech in Lausanne, Switzerland. From 2014-2019, he co-authored the annual Fuel Cell Industry Review published by E4Tech, the global benchmark report in this sector.  Shiva Dustdar is Head of Innovation Finance Advisory at the European Investment Bank. A leading innovation finance expert with over 25 years of experience at J.P. Morgan, Fitch Ratings and now at EIB, she specialises in identifying future investment opportunities and developing new business and market opportunities to finance the transition to a green and digital economy. Ms Dustdar co-founded the European High Yield Association (EHYA), which is now part of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME). In 2006, she was listed in the ‘Top 50 Women in Credit’ by Credit Magazine. Ms Dustdar Shiva holds a BA in Economics from Columbia University and an Executive MBA from London Business School.