While the focus might be on countries as a whole, there could be some benefits to the Irish EU Presidency for small and medium business owners.

Ireland is halfway through its EU Presidency now and questions are starting to arise about what results we can expect to see.

During The Pat Kenny Show, Ciara Doherty asked Minister Thomas Byrne what would he be able to say come January if asked by small business owners: "What has this done for me?"

Minister Byrne replied: "Well, the biggest one is the Multiannual Financial Framework. That's the long-term budget of the EU. Can we get that agreed?

"It's not just on Ireland, by the way, to get this agreed. We coordinate, we shepherd the sheep as such. We have 27 sheep there. We have to get everyone together and get them all unanimously to agree this budget.

"But if there's a competitiveness fund in that, that can help small and medium enterprises, that would be a big success.

"We're also getting through at the moment some of the real difficult work of negotiating some of what's called the simplification files, which are regulations to reduce regulation.

"And that work is progressing. We are making progress."

Minister Byrne also explained that as hosts of the EU Presidency, it's on Ireland to negotiate among the member states and then get the European Parliament to agree.

He continued: "We have deadlines, but those deadlines, unfortunately, are not totally in our control, but we will be working as hard as we can to meet our side of the bargain.

"We need the European Parliament and the Commission and everybody to work with us on this. But I think so far, so good.

"We made significant progress on two files this week with member states, and then we go to the European Parliament on them."

One of the big events of the presidency is the AI Summit which has been championed by Minister for AI, Niamh Smith.

The summit is expected to be held "Wednesday week" and there will be a huge number of the international tech community in Ireland in attendance.

Given that AI was a major part of the competetiveness agenda, the topic of safety surrounding it is naturally a high priority, especially after the Australian Government had an AI-related data breach recently.

When asked if he thinks the EU is in control of AI regulation, Minister Byrne said that he does think it is in control and one thing he keeps telling businesses is that the EU is very good at "consumer protection, public protection, public safety, all of that."

"I think the EU is at the forefront of that,' he continued. "The challenge that we face is that other countries are not prioritising that and other countries are ahead of the EU in the so-called AI race. So that's the challenge."

Main Image: The flags of the EU and Ireland, Picture by: Alamy Stock Photo