French Minister Delegate Éléonore Caroit spoke at Trinity College Dublin on multilateralism, international law, and the challenges facing global institutions. She addressed topics including French student protests, Irish neutrality, populist nationalism, and the importance of the Irish-French relationship, urging students to participate in exchange programmes.
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Éléonore Caroit, the French Minister Delegate responsible for Francophonie, international partnerships, and French nationals abroad, addressed a capacity audience at Trinity College Dublin's GMB venue, outlining her position that multilateral institutions remain an indispensable foundation for cross-border cooperation.
Welcoming remarks from Long Room Hub Director Professor Patrick Geoghegan and Vice Provost Professor Orla Sheils preceded the address, in which Caroit traced the origins of multilateralism in the post-war international order before turning to the pressures now testing that architecture. Among the illustrations she offered was a reference to accounts that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro had been taken into custody by United States authorities at some point earlier in the year.
Her remarks centred on the view that international law warrants both existence and adherence. She cited a passage holding that multilateral frameworks offer protection to nations, and pointed to cross-border cooperation during events such as the Covid pandemic as evidence of what the international system has, in her assessment, delivered.
Caroit said that growing up in the Dominican Republic had left a clear mark on her worldview, particularly in how she thinks about foreign assistance and what it means to carry more than one national identity. Drawing on the words of Samuel Beckett, she spoke to the bond between France and Ireland while making the case that incremental progress remains at the heart of how international law develops.
On the topic of Irish neutrality, Caroit characterised it as "very interesting," drawing a distinction between that position and the model of neutrality associated with Switzerland.
Asked about the ongoing student protests in France, she told reporters she found the footage coming out of the demonstrations deeply upsetting, and added that the unrest points to grievances extending well beyond disputes over funding. Upholding the government's handling of the situation, she pointed to a statement from the French Interior Minister in which the level of force deployed by police was described as proportionate.
When a question about populist nationalism in the United States arose, Caroit offered the view that such movements put pressure on the institutions underpinning democratic governance, adding that her own political work in France was oriented toward defending those same foundations.
Concluding her address, the Minister Delegate called on students to consider studying in France, pointing to exchange programmes as a foundation for strengthening ties between Ireland and France. Professor Geoghegan closed the gathering by recounting a story about Charles de Gaulle's journey to the O'Connell family estate — a trip the former French president undertook in the period following his 1969 resignation.
The event was organised through a partnership between the French Embassy and the Trinity Long Room Hub, with the College Historical Society, the Politics Society, the French Society, the Europa Society, DU Modern Languages, and SOFIA serving as co-organising bodies.