Ireland holds 1.20 % of the EU population. Its government supports mandatory scanning of private messages, or the widest scanning scope in Council, since 2 Jul 2026.
Supports Last checked 22 October 2026
What the government has said
“Protecting children is our duty. The position agreed by the Council today paves the way for online service providers to resume their efforts to detect child sexual abuse online.”Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan, 2 July 2026
Receipt: Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan, Council press release, 2 Jul 2026
Supported the mandatory text in September 2025. Holds the presidency since July 2026 and chairs the 29 September trilogue; its justice minister calls the inability to intercept encrypted services a matter of considerable concern.
How it voted in the Council
- Negotiating mandate, 26 November 2025
- yes The Council position adopted in Coreper: voluntary scanning only, no detection orders. Coreper does not publish votes; the split was reported the same day by the Czech news agency CTK.
- Chat Control 1.0, 23 July 2026
- yes The vote that brought back the temporary rules: voluntary scanning of private messages allowed until 3 April 2028.
A government can oppose mandatory scanning and still vote for the voluntary regime. The two are listed separately for that reason. Council votes need 15 states with 65 % of the population; four states with more than 35 % block.
How its MEPs voted
On 9 July 2026 the European Parliament voted on a motion to reject the Council text that brought back voluntary scanning, Chat Control 1.0. Rejection needed 361 votes and got 314, so the text passed. Of the 14 MEPs elected in Ireland, 1 voted to reject it, 11 voted against rejection, 0 abstained and 2 did not vote.
- 1 for rejection, that is against voluntary scanning
- 11 against rejection, letting the text pass
- 0 abstained
- 2 did not vote
The government line above concerns mandatory scanning; this vote concerned the voluntary regime. They are different questions, which is why both are shown. Source: roll-call vote 195775 as published by the European Parliament and compiled by HowTheyVote.eu; all 27 delegations side by side on the governments page.
Who decides in Ireland
- Minister
- Jim O’Callaghan, Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration; spoke for Ireland at the Council on 2 Jul 2026. Ireland holds the Council presidency in the second half of 2026
- Ministry in charge
- Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration
- Permanent representation
- Ambassador Aingeal O’Donoghue, Permanent Representative (Coreper II); Ambassador Cáit Moran, Deputy Permanent Representative (Coreper I)
Timeline
- Council vote on Chat Control 1.0, the temporary rules. Ireland: yes.
- European Parliament votes on rejecting Chat Control 1.0; the motion fails, the text passes. MEPs elected in Ireland: 1 for rejection, 11 against, 0 abstained, 2 did not vote. source
- Recorded as supports. Receipt: Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan, Council press release, 2 Jul 2026 source
- Council negotiating mandate adopted in Coreper. Ireland: yes.
Sources
- Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan, Council press release, 2 Jul 2026 (receipt)
- Council minutes, 12 Sep 2025 (supports the mandatory text, ‘clear added value’), via netzpolitik.org
- Minister O'Callaghan on intercepting encrypted services, speech of 16 Jul 2025
- Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU, the ambassadors
- Method: what the labels mean and where the population shares come from
This page is one of 27 records behind Where the 27 governments stand. Together the governments against hold 32.9 % of the EU population; a blocking minority needs more than 35 %.
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Data for all 27: JSON · CSV. Found a mistake? Tell us; we correct openly and say what changed.
Cite as: Brussels Record, “Ireland: position on Chat Control”, last checked 22 October 2026, https://brusselsrecord.com/member-states/ireland/
