A 40-year diplomatic career that has taken Aingeal O’Donoghue everywhere from North Korea to Nuuk will culminate today in a nondescript, windowless room in the bowels of the European Union’s policymaking machine. For the next six months, the Co Cork woman will be the State’s most important diplomat, as Ireland’s “permanent representative” in Brussels during the country’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Regarded by colleagues as a low-key but impressive and hard-working operator who has plenty of experience in EU-politicking O’Donoghue (64) has been the Republic’s ambassador to the EU since August 2023. “She doesn’t suffer fools, you need to know your stuff,” says one Irish diplomatic source who worked alongside her. Another senior colleague, who has known her for years, says O’Donoghue is not the showboating type. “Prepared to the nth degree,” they say. She will play an important behind-the-scenes role nudging forward the European agenda from July 1st until the end of the year. O’Donoghue will chair a key committee known as Coreper, a largely unknown axle in the EU system that has taken on a lot more influence. The regular meetings bring together ambassadors representing all 27 governments to prepare the ground for political decisions taken by ministers or leaders. The format troubleshoots problems, sounds out positions and flags points of serious disagreement early on. When the ambassadors can’t find consensus, topics get kicked up to the politicians. “It’s not always easy to reach decisions with 27 different people around the table, but we work hard together to make it happen,” O’Donoghue said in 2024.She has jokingly described the Europa Building, where the council is based, as her “second home”. The ambassadors meet in S7, a room four floors up from the large one where the big EU summits of national leaders take place. It will be in those Coreper meetings where a huge amount of legwork will be done to negotiate the next EU budget, open new “chapters” in Ukraine’s membership bid and resolve differences on contentious financial and capital market reforms during Ireland’s presidency. The budget talks will require squaring a very big circle, O’Donoghue tells colleagues privately. She reminds those around her that a presidency has to contend with unexpected crises and the “known unknowns”. That could take the shape of a fresh rupture in transatlantic relations, or peace talks to end the Ukraine war. The government holding the rotating EU presidency has to assume the role of dealmaker.[ Blockades of key infrastructure will not be tolerated during EU presidency, Garda saysOpens in new window ]O’Donoghue won’t be able to advocate for Ireland’s national interests in those confidential discussions, but its positions will be known. “When you’re president of the Coreper you actually don’t speak that much, you set the scene,” says one official who regularly observes proceedings. An ambassador from another EU state, who sits around the table, says O’Donoghue grasped the huge amount of work on her shoulders for the next six months. “She’s tough … She’s impressive,” her counterpart says. “It is an extremely demanding role”, one retired Irish ambassador says. “Once it begins, you’re on the treadmill.” Their remit includes areas that usually need unanimous agreement: foreign affairs, finance legislation, the EU budget, justice and migration. Cáit Moran, Ireland’s deputy permanent representative, will chair a second committee of ambassadors responsible for agriculture, health, competitiveness, environment and transport policy. [ Russia sanctions having an impact, top Irish diplomat says amid Aughinish Alumina pressureOpens in new window ]O’Donoghue is from Coachford, a small Cork village near the banks of the river Lee. The daughter of a primary school principal and one of three siblings, she studied law in University College Cork and then trained as a barrister in King’s Inn. Around the time she was finishing her studies, she was mulling a career in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Through a mutual friend, she arranged to meet two diplomats working in the department, one of whom was Rory Montgomery, who later became second secretary general. Over drinks in the Shelbourne Hotel, the two officials gave their thoughts about life in the diplomatic service. O’Donoghue went on to join the department in 1986.The first half of her career included postings to Washington, Madrid and New Delhi, and stints covering EU policy in Dublin and in the Anglo-Irish division. Her husband, Peter Bullen, is from the US. The pair married in 1995 and have one adult daughter. “She comes with a huge level of EU experience,” says Lucinda Creighton. “She does her homework,” the former politician says. Creighton got to know O’Donoghue very well during Ireland’s last EU presidency in 2013. Creighton, who was then in Fine Gael, was junior minister for European affairs. O’Donoghue was posted to Brussels to oversee relations with the European Parliament. “She and I would literally spend a week together every month in Strasbourg in the year leading up to the presidency; we went from one MEP to the next,” says Creighton, who runs her own lobbying firm, Vulcan Consulting. “Whether it’s a Minister or the Taoiseach, she will keep them extremely well briefed,” she said. O’Donoghue will represent the agreed position of member states in “trilogue” negotiations with the parliament and the European Commission to settle the final revisions on new EU laws and regulations. Her prior experience as a parliament whisperer will stand to her there.O’Donoghue served as ambassador to South Korea from 2013 to 2017, a posting that also covers North Korea. Then she returned to Dublin to lead the department’s EU division. She was talked about as a contender to be the first woman to become secretary general. However, Joe Hackett got the department’s top job in 2021. Former Irish ambassador Eamonn McKee, her predecessor in Korea, says O’Donoghue brought her “Trojan work ethic” to a challenging role preparing the State for the possible fallout from Brexit. She was picked to lead Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s multibillion-euro Shared Island programme, which funds cross-Border projects and closer co-operation, a sign of the trust the top echelons of Government put in her ability to get things done. Her appointment as permanent representative in Brussels was made knowing she would be in situ for the presidency. “She’s the right person at the right time,” another Irish ambassador says. One point made by several sources is that O’Donoghue can seem less comfortable in the public-facing side of a diplomat’s life. She can be very difficult to pin down if you’re a lobbyist or represent business interests. “Unfortunately, Ambassador O’Donoghue is not available” is a common response to requests from companies and trade groups looking to meet her, internal emails show. “The pace is really picking up at this end as we approach the presidency start line,” O’Donoghue told a lobbyist from web giant Amazon, in a March 4th email rebuffing a request for a meeting. The internal correspondence was released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act. There are plenty of events you have to show face at, of course. A St Patrick’s Day celebration in the European Parliament is one of them. “Go ahead and accept,” she wrote to her assistant in response to an invite to the soirée last year. The usual Coreper meeting this Wednesday will mark the first time O’Donoghue sits in the chairwoman’s seat. The moment won’t be remarked upon by many, beyond well wishes from the other ambassadors sitting around the table. That’s probably just how she would want it.