What Maria spoke about.

Madam President, Commissioner, a recent study in Ireland found that almost half of our farmers want to add value to their wool, and yet more than 80 % are unable to do so. The big question is: why? Because there are too few markets, too little processing capacity and too much unnecessary bureaucracy. For many sheep farmers, wool has become a cost rather than an income, and you'll hear that from co

Mr President, there is one topic that is rarely discussed in this House – a natural resource that remains underused despite its clear economic and environmental value. And that is wool. Legal barriers to handling, marketing and exporting wool are preventing farmers from using it effectively or restoring its value. Across Europe, particularly in Ireland, the wool industry has nearly disappeared, an

Madam President, every day, like you, I read another story of a child harmed by the online world – another statistic, another life changed. And when children are on platforms they are not supposed to be on, harm only increases. Today, the European Commission has preliminarily found that Meta may be in breach of the Digital Services Act for failing to properly prevent minors from accessing platform

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, 92. That was the number of times it is estimated that Gisèle Pelicot was raped over the course of a decade. 1 000 is the number of users in a private Telegram group dedicated to sharing advice on how to drug and rape their partners. 31 % is the number of women in the EU right now who have experienced physical or sexual violence and that was from 2025. 41 % i

Thanks for gifting me my own personal story, because like my colleague MEP Angel, – we call him 'angel' in this House – I'm a gay kid living from a rural part of Ireland, very Catholic-driven when I was growing up, and I couldn't even imagine the psychological, the spiritual, the physical degree of discrimination that I would go through if I was another kid living in different part of Europe. And

Madam President, colleagues, often we hear the term 'conversion therapy', we imagine something from the past: an outdated practice that no longer takes place in our community and is banned in our laws. We've heard several colleagues refer to that to date, but that is simply not true. Only eight EU countries have banned these so-called therapies, and as an Irish MEP, it is difficult to accept that

Mr President, as we will hear in the debate this morning, colleagues, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is holding its 70th session this March. In its 70 years of existence, we have come some way in the journey of recognising inadequacies in gender equality, but we sure haven't come far enough. As it stands – and hopefully you will hear about this in this morning's debate – it w

Madam President, Executive Vice-President of the Commission, findings from the European Institute for Gender Equality show us that women face higher risk of poverty than men in the EU. As we recently discussed in the FEMM Committee, central to this poverty hold is the gender pay and pension gap. In 2026, women across the EU still earn less than men for the exact same work and over the course of a

Madam President, despite what the previous speaker said, today, I speak not only as an Irish MEP but also as an American citizen. I was born in the United States, raised in Ireland. I lived there for many years in my 20s. I still have very close family there, and this week, for the first time in my life, I found myself worrying about their safety. Late last year, an Irishman by the name of Seamus

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the WHO reports that in Europe, 1 in 7 children and young people under 19 is currently living with a mental health condition. Among teenage girls, the figure rises to 1 in 4. The WHO explicitly identifies online environments as a contributing factor to this growing crisis. But these are not just numbers: these are children in our classrooms, in our sports fi

Mr President, across Europe, 31 % of women have experienced sexual harassment at work. 31 %. Recent revelations in Spain once again expose how deeply sexual harassment is embedded within the halls of our public institutions. And this is not solely a Spanish problem. Hence the reason why I am very disappointed we do not have more people in the Chamber right now. It's not just a Spanish problem. Whe

Mr President, there's one thing I agree with on the right side of the house today, and that is that this directive should not be something we are still debating in this House in 2025. I have had countless conversations, both in this Chamber and beyond, about this directive, and too often those conversations are clouded by confusion and misinformation. And this is where I will leave the right to th

Mr President, colleagues, 'My voice, my choice' is a citizens' initiative – you've heard this from many colleagues tonight – signed by over 1.2 million people who want to improve hospital support and medical care for women in areas where abortion is banned. This is about access to healthcare – safe and accessible abortion healthcare. It does not have some arbitrary, ulterior motive to infringe on

Madam President, the starvation and mass execution of civilians in Sudan continues at an appalling state, and we've heard that here from colleagues. Condemning these atrocities from this privileged Chamber is very easy, but what is far more difficult and far more important is asking what role the EU plays when innocent people are being massacred. There is credible evidence that the RSF are current

Madam President, Commissioner, across the European Union there are almost 13 million people employed in social enterprises. These organisations make a vital contribution to local economies, social cohesion, and the green and digital transition. However, there remains a disproportionate distribution of EU funding for social enterprise development across Member States – in particular, in Ireland, my

Madam President, colleagues, we know the fight against migrant smuggling and human trafficking is not an abstract challenge. It affects communities all across the EU, and criminal networks profit enormously from these horrific crimes, with estimated earnings of EUR 4.7 billion to EUR 6 billion each year. These criminals prey on the most vulnerable, especially women and young girls. Updating our le

Madam President, thank you very much. Colleagues, tonight I wanted to share some of the latest findings from my Member State of Ireland that are deeply distressing. In the past 15 months, Gardaí have identified 55 children in Ireland who have suffered online sexual abuse. These are not just numbers; these are children whose lives have been violated and forever changed. At the start of this month,

Mr President, the Commission's decision to fine Google sends a powerful message: Europe is not afraid to stand up to big tech. But while Google now feels the force of EU rules, many other platforms continue to violate them with little to no consequences. Nowhere is that failure more damaging than in the treatment of women online. On paper, EU laws protect women and girls in digital spaces, in prac

Mr President, Madam Commissioner, colleagues, today – or, I should say, tomorrow – is World Mental Health Day, as many of our colleagues have pointed out. And I wish to speak of those whose mental struggles are too often overseen: our farming community. Across our Member States, farmers are facing the perfect storm: a reduced CAP budget, mounting climate pressures, volatile markets and financial c

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the fight for gender equality is not confined to history books – it unfolds every single day across the world. Here in this House we represent 450 million citizens, yet less than 4 % of MEPs representing those 450 million citizens are in this chamber – that's a disgrace. Colleagues who are pro-European, pro-equality, pro-choice, pro-female, however they iden

Mr President, this week we are voting on two reports that promise simplification and fairness: two things that our farmers desperately need and which, in theory, we should all welcome. But the reality is far from simple and far too complicated. On one side, we hear about easing burdens, cutting some farm‑level checks. That sounds great, an absolute step forward. But on the other hand, we risk drow

Madam President, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea has recommended a devastating 70 % cut to the EU mackerel quota next year. A cut like this could cost Ireland, my own Member State, over EUR 66 million. Mackerel is more than just a fish to Ireland. It's worth EUR 94 million in exports and supports thousands of hard‑working families in our coastal and island communities. Our

That's a good question, colleague, and I appreciate the opportunity to reply. I mean, in many ways, yes, this is where politics – and bad politics – impacts the pockets and the tables of every EU citizen right now, and indeed international person. Because tariffs – as we heard from the President of the Commission today and we've heard repeatedly – only impact those at the end of the food supply ch

Mr President, why should Irish pigmeat producers have to bear the brunt of political trade disputes, with a market as crucial as China? Just a few years ago, China accounted for 40 % of Ireland's total pork exports. But recent trade tensions have seen this figure drop to only 19 % last year. Hardworking producers are now slapped with import duties ranging from 15 % to a staggering 62 %. Commission

Madam President, Commissioner, in just a few days, we'll know what the Commission's proposal for the next CAP will look like. And I want to stress, like many colleagues here, how critical it is not to reduce our support to areas that depend on rural development funding. Let's take young farmers: they're struggling to enter farming and make a real living, yet they're the ones that put food on our t