Europe Day marked with Kildare school visit
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Minister Martin Heydon and the Ambassador of Austria to Ireland marked Europe Day with a visit to Kilkea NS, Kildare
Kildare South Fine Gael TD and Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Martin Heydon recently marked Europe Day 2026 by visiting Kilkea NS, accompanied by Ambassador Schubert, Ambassador of Austria to Ireland.
The visit was part of a national programme of Europe Day engagements taking place across Ireland this week, ahead of Ireland assuming the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July 2026.
The objective is to encourage a greater understanding and awareness of our EU membership and what it means in 2026.
As an integral part of a public outreach programme around the EU Presidency, Irish counties have been paired with EU Member States.
Kildare has been paired with Austria and the Ambassador of Austria accompanied the Minister to meet the senior pupils at Kilkea NS.
Speaking after the visit, Minister Heydon said: “The enthusiasm of the students in Kilkea NS today reflects the enthusiasm of the Irish people for the European Union. Having Ambassador Schubert, Austrian Ambassador to Ireland in Kildare today is a great opportunity that will only further generate local interest in the European Union ahead of Ireland assuming the EU Presidency in July. “European membership offers young people across Ireland opportunities our forefathers could only have dreamt of, and we had a great conversation on all the benefits of EU membership today.”
The European Parliament’s Autumn 2025 Eurobarometer survey, conducted across the EU 27 Member States between 6 and 30 November 2025, found that 86% of Irish citizens consider Ireland’s EU membership to be “a good thing.”
“Ambassador Schubert presented the pupils of Kilkea NS with a flag of the European Union to mark the visit and found the knowledge and curiosity of the Kilkea pupils on Europe to be exemplary.
“Many thanks to principal Mrs Lucy Behan and teacher Niamh Manning for their cooperation in organising the visit. It was great to be able to show the ambassador the interest in the European Union from these pupils in South Kildare”, concluded Minister Heydon.