17th October 2025
Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation Niamh Smyth is representing Ireland at the Digital 9+ (D9+) Ministerial Meeting today, Friday, 17 October in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Lisbon D9+ meeting comes at a pivotal moment for Europe’s digital and economic future. Building on the momentum of the Draghi and Letta reports, D9+ Ministers are calling for ambitious digital simplification, pro-innovation regulation, strengthening investments in digital skills and supporting AI as a driver to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness.
Commenting on today’s meeting Minister Smyth said:
“Ireland is committed to shaping a digital Europe that is inclusive, innovative and future-focused. The D9+ provides a vital platform to advance shared priorities and ensure that digital transformation delivers real benefits for our citizens and businesses. Ireland supports efforts towards increasing EU resilience and decreasing dependencies in critical digital value chains. These efforts must be pursued in an open manner by maintaining access to open markets, interoperability, and international collaboration”
In Lisbon, D9+ Ministers will engage in strategic discussions on shaping Europe’s digital future. Key areas of focus included: strengthening Europe’s digital competitiveness through coordinated strategic investments, more effective regulation to help accelerate technological progress while ensuring responsible oversight and accelerating the digital transformation for resilient digital governments and societies.
Minister Smyth will highlight Ireland’s position, that cooperation with countries and companies outside of the Union on which we have trusted partnerships is a vital enabler for the development of a vibrant and innovative digital ecosystem. Minister Smyth will further stress the importance of eliminating bureaucracy through pro-innovation regulation, the need to facilitate greater access to finance for start-ups and SMEs, and the centrality of skills development to Europe’s AI agenda.
Notes for editors
Background to D9+ Grouping
The Digital 9+ (D9+) is an informal, strategic grouping of the more digitally advanced EU Member States which was formed in 2016. The group’s aim is to exchange opinions and best practices on different areas of action related to EU’s digital transformation. The group has 13 members. The original members Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were subsequently joined by Czechia and Poland in 2018, Spain and Portugal in 2019 and most recently Slovenia in 2023.
The Group meets at Ministerial level twice a year. The meetings take place in the Member State which holds the 6-month Rotating Chair of the Group, which is decided by members volunteering and reaching consensus. Ministerial Declarations are a feature and an output of D9+ meetings and the agreed “Lisbon Declaration” is included in this brief. Ireland held the Chair of the D9+ in the first half of 2024, and hosted the D9+ meeting in Dublin Castle, along with a Digital Ireland Conference the day prior. The Netherlands held the Chair during H1 2015 and now is currently with Portugal.
The D9+ Group also typically meets with the Business 9+ Group, (the B9+), to discuss matters of mutual interest relevant to the digital economy. The B9+ is made up of the confederations of enterprises from the different Members of the D9+ Group. IBEC is Ireland’s representative on the B9+.
The benefits of the D9+ grouping include that it is informal in nature and so allows for a more free-flowing debate and discussion than is the case in Council settings at the EU. It facilitates the deepening of relationships between countries interested in supporting the development of the digital economy and in helping Europe take a leading global role on digitalisation
ENDS
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