EPN Consulting Research and Innovation is a boutique consultancy based in Dublin 8 and addresses mainly two categories of professional services: Research activities on Sustainability themes and EU policies along with EU-funded projects assisting clients in shaping their innovation ideas according to the right policies and in line with the EU funding programs, in particular Horizon Europe whose funding rate may reach 100% of the costs incurred.
Early 2026 when talking with individuals and businesses in Dublin and Ireland, Stefano Mainero - the company’s founder and CEO - realised that only few of them where aware of the great upcoming opportunity for Ireland of holding the Presidency of the European Council in the second semester of 2026.
According to the EU rules, every member state is entitled to hold the that presidency for six months which - for its own mechanism – is said to be “rotating”. As currently the EU include 27 member countries, the next opportunity for Ireland would happen in 13.5 years or even 14 years if in the meantime Montenegro is going to join the “EU club” as many sources have been reporting recently.
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Fror the 1st July 2026 to the 31st Dec 2026 Ireland will be hosting about 250 key events, MEPs meetings and conferences as well as receiving a lot of attention from the European press.
That’s why EPN Consulting R&I started in early March 2026 to disseminate information on the EU bodies, their functions and governance, and will follow with the description of EU funding schemes and more to raise awareness on this visibility opportunity.
This initiative is called:
EPN Consulting R&I's Raising Awareness Campaign for Ireland
and identified by this tag: #EPNConsResearch4Ireland
From March 2026 onward, EPN publishes on several social media platforms at least twice a week posts on the EU organisation and related links. This will also include one post will be celebrating the Europe Day on 9th May.
As a matter of fact, on 9th May 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman delivered a historic speech and plan for deeper cooperation in Europe, known as the Schuman Declaration.
EPN intends to keep this initiative running at least until July 2026 to prepare Irish people and businesses for this unmissable opportunity and probably will continue during the European semester to contribute to the increasing visibility Ireland is going to have until December 2026.
In the meantime, EPN Consulting Research and Innovation will be happy to engage communication with Irish businesses and help them succeed in getting fresh European funds, assist them in identifying the best EU policies that could benefit their work and publicise any event they would like to organise during the 2nd semester 2026.