The Irish Centre for European Law (“ICEL”) is pleased to announce that it will host an EU Presidency Conference in partnership with the Chief State’s Solicitor’s Office at the President’s Hall at the Law Society of Ireland between 2-5.45pm on Friday, 13 November 2026. There will be a networking event held after in the Blue Room from 5-6pm.

The Conference will be themed “Ireland’s enduring place in Europe and why it matters: The Legal View“.

Tickets can be purchased here.

This Conference will provide a forum for public discussion and debate on Ireland’s enduring place in Europe and why it matters from a legal standpoint. This is a particularly relevant topic given that Ireland will have held the role as EU President for approximately four months at the date of this conference.

The Conference will comprise of an opening keynote address, two panels of leading Irish experts in this field and a concluding keynote address centred around the theme followed by a networking event.

We are delighted to announce that Rossa Fanning SC, Attorney General, will deliver the opening keynote address and Maria Browne, Chief State Solicitor will deliver the closing keynote address.

The first moderated panel will comprise of former Attorney Generals, including Paul Gallagher SC and Senator Michael McDowell and will be moderated by Marion Berry, Director General of the Office of the Attorney General. The theme of the first moderated panel will be themed ““Ireland’s place in Europe: An Attorney General’s perspective”.

The second moderated panel will be themed ““Ireland’s Place at the Heart of Europe: Reflections, Insights and Lessons”. This panel will comprise of  Christine Comiskey, Assistant Chief State Solicitor, Karen Banks, Former Deputy Director-General, Commission Legal Service, Tobias Lock, Head of the School of Law and Criminology at Maynooth University and Regina O’Connor, Former Senior Legal and Political Advisor to the European Parliament.

For general enquiries about this Conference, please email icel@tcd.ie.