MINISTERS and Ministers of State from all Government Departments will all have their first experience of running EU business during a short but intense series of meetings in Dublin Castle today.
They will meet their opposite numbers in the European Commission for talks on the priorities for the Irish presidency and the specific goals that need to be achieved in each policy area.
The 19 European Commissioners who arrived in Dublin yesterday, 15 Government Ministers and 17 Ministers of State will be subdivided into 11 parallel working group meetings.
Some of the policy areas overlap, so a number of Ministers and Commissioners will be spending time at several of the meetings.
The scheduling will ensure that every policy area to be dealt with during the presidency will be covered during the 90 minutes from 9.30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The Commissioners, Ministers and Ministers of State will then meet together at 11.30 a.m., breaking at 12.45 p.m. for a press conference.
They will then have lunch, hosted by the Taoiseach, before leaving from Dublin Airport during the afternoon.
Among the key working group is that chaired by the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn. It covers the preparations for Economic and Monetary Union, the completion of the EU internal market, regional policy, taxation and the EU budget, and will also be attended by the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Mr Kenny, and the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Hugh Coveney.
The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, chairs the group discussing employment - a key priority for the Irish presidency. This group will also discuss health and social affairs, and other Ministers and Ministers of State attending include Mr Quinn, Mr Noonan, Mr Taylor and Ms Eithne Fitzgerald.
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, will chair the group discussing the EU's external relations, the World Trade Organisation, development and humanitarian aid. Others attending include Mr Kenny, Ms Joan Burton and Mr Gay Mitchell.
The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, will chair her discussions with the Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Ms Anita Gradin. The two will discuss drugs - another stated priority of the Irish presidency - crime, Europol, proposals to simplify extradition and EU/US relations.
. The ICTU last night called for "decisive action on employment, the social dimension and the social rights of European citizens during Ireland's presidency. The organisation's assistant general secretary, Ms Patricia O'Donovan, warned that there was increasing pressure from vested interests in the EU "to roll back the small social gains that have been made".
"There is a real danger that the noble aspirations for a Union based on social solidarity and fairness will be sabotaged by those whose blinkered vision can see no further than a free trade zone", she said.
She accused IBEC of parroting the views of "this reactionary minority who want to turn back the clock social progress in Europe".