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A Sinn Féin TD has said Ireland must consider the practical implications of future EU enlargement, arguing that expanding the bloc could eventually allow millions more people to benefit from free movement across member states.
Speaking during a Dáil contribution this week, Cork North-Central TD Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin said there had been “a big emphasis on EU Enlargement” during a ceremony in Dublin Castle, and questioned whether sufficient attention was being given to the impact such expansion could have on Ireland’s infrastructure and public services.
Ó Súilleabháin said that while he had “mixed emotions” about the European Union, he supported aspects of European cooperation, including cultural exchanges and workers’ rights, while expressing concerns about other elements of EU integration.
Turning to enlargement, he said the issue required greater public discussion.
“I attended and enjoyed today’s ceremony in Dublin Castle,” he said.
“There was a big emphasis on EU enlargement which will allow 36 million from Ukraine, and eventually 136 million from non-EU countries, to have free movement into Ireland and elsewhere.
“Have we considered the practical implications of all of this in terms of Ireland’s infrastructure and peoples access to housing, healthcare and education? Well, we need to!”
Ó Súilleabháin also said he believed Ireland’s upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union should be used to promote Irish reunification.
“Unfortunately, I don’t hear much emphasis on EU enlargement into Fermanagh, Armagh, Tyrone, Derry, Antrim, Down and the use of our Presidency as a unique opportunity to garner support for the re-unification of Ireland, just as we enthusiastically supported the re-unification of Germany.”
Earlier in his contribution, the Sinn Féin TD described his view of the European project as a “love-hate relationship of sorts”.
“Many Irish people have mixed emotions on the European project,” he said.
“A love-hate relationship of sorts. I spoke in the European parliament recently as part of the erasmus programme and love the element of mutual cooperation and cultural exchanges with countries with which we have had links since the time the Irish monks shone their light across a dark continent.”
He went on to criticise what he described as the EU’s “increasing militarisation”, its approach to multinational corporations, the EU Migration Pact, and what he called “double-standards” in relation to Ukraine and Israel.
However, Ó Súilleabháin also acknowledged that the EU had introduced legislation in areas including workers’ rights.
“There has undoubtedly been much progressive legislation coming from Europe, such as in the area of workers’ rights and other dimensions,” he said.
“However, there is no reason why any national parliament shouldn’t have been able to enact that same legislation.”
Questions surrounding the practical effects of EU enlargement have previously been acknowledged by Government ministers.
As reported by Gript in November 2025, then-Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the Government continued to support enlargement to include countries such as Ukraine and states in the Western Balkans, while recognising that a larger European Union would have implications for the bloc.
“We support the enlargement of the European Union,” Donohoe said at the time.
“We support, in particular, the enlargement of the European Union within the Balkans, and the membership of Ukraine within the European Union… But what the report simply acknowledges is that a bigger European Union will have an effect on the finances of the EU itself.”
He added: “The Government’s view on EU enlargement is unchanged. All the report highlights is that anything that big will have consequences, and to be aware of those consequences in the debate around it.”
The Department of Finance’s Future Forty report, published alongside those remarks, stated that while freedom of movement for new member states would likely be introduced on a phased basis, EU enlargement “can also be expected to impact on future migration flows to Ireland.”
Ireland has consistently supported a merit-based enlargement process for countries seeking EU membership. Candidate countries and potential candidates include Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Georgia, with accession dependent on meeting EU requirements relating to issues such as governance, the rule of law and anti-corruption reforms.
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