Ireland is big tech’s lapdog — and that compromises our EU presidency

As home to so many tech giants, Ireland is so compromised that as president of the Council of the EU, it should recuse itself from all negotiations around regulating tech companies

Facebook parent company Meta's headquarters in Dublin. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

On the face of it, Ireland behaves like a good European by being a staunch advocate of human rights and a beacon of progressivism on the western edge of the continent. 

But there is one vital area in which its record is less than perfect — one that should cause concern when the Irish Government takes over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU on July 1.