Tech regulation will form a large part of Dublin's presidency of the Council of the EU, which starts July 1.

As Ireland gets ready to engineer compromises between EU countries on tricky tech files in the latter half of this year, the very loud, trumpeting elephant in the room will be the country’s close relationship with U.S. tech giants.

Sixteen of the world’s top 20 tech companies operate hubs in Ireland and more than 100,000 people are employed in the tech sector. Ireland’s fiscal watchdog warned earlier this year that just two tech firms — not named but understood to be Apple and Microsoft — paid almost 40 percent of all corporate tax in Ireland in 2024, adding up to €11 billion.

“It’s widely acknowledged, including by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, that Ireland is too reliant on Big Tech firms,” said liberal Member of the European Parliament Michael McNamara, who was the lead lawmaker on a package to roll back AI rules, and a key figure in another plan to streamline data and privacy laws.

“Ireland needs to be clear-eyed about the pressures that will come during the Presidency,” from major tech companies with headquarters in Dublin, he said.

Ireland’s to-do list once it assumes the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on July 1 will likely include work on a tech sovereignty package to untangle Europe’s reliance on foreign tech; separate proposals that could squeeze U.S. firms out of European satellite airwaves and critical supply chains; slashing red tape to simplify tech rules; if and how to ban kids from social media; making the online world fairer for consumers; and a facelift for telecom rules.

The country that holds the presidency can subtly influence the work of the Council by deciding what to prioritize or put on the back burner, but in general is supposed to act as a so-called honest broker to find common ground among diplomats.

Left-leaning European Parliament lawmaker Lynn Boylan from Irish opposition party Sinn Féin said Ireland’s economic model is “deeply tied to keeping a small number of overwhelmingly American tech corporations comfortable,” which creates an “obvious conflict” with Ireland handling digital policy during its presidency.

But Ireland has garnered a reputation among diplomats in Brussels as a fair dealer, including for previous work on politically sensitive tech files in Washington’s crosshairs. During its last Council presidency in 2013, Ireland made diplomats sleep in tents to maximize time spent negotiating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, earning kudos from then-Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding.

One EU diplomat told POLITICO that Ireland was “very fair” during negotiations on the current legal framework underpinning data flows between the EU and U.S., while another called the country “very professional” in how it handles digital files. Both were granted anonymity to divulge an opinion on another country.