Diary

Noelle O’Connell’s Diary: From election preparations to braving chilly Atlantic for first surf of the year

The European Movement Ireland chief also meets the Taoiseach-elect and brushes up on her French for TV and radio interviews

Noelle O'Connell, chief executive, European Movement Ireland. ‘One of my new year’s resolutions was to read more. Sometimes it's a juggle but my current fix is a page-turner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch’

Monday

The week started with meeting the Polish Ambassador to Ireland. Over 100,000 Polish people have made Ireland their home – Poland will assume the EU Presidency next year, so it was great to explore partnership opportunities before our own EU Presidency in 2026.

A quick detour via Cork followed, where I did the first of the week’s media engagements, discussing EM Ireland’s ‘Can Vote, Will Vote’ EU Elections campaign. With less than 70 days ...