What Regina spoke about.

Mr President, for somebody opening their payslip in Dublin, my hometown, the tax deducted is real, hard‑earned money. That's earned money that could be used for other things like rent, childcare or the weekly food bill. So they're absolutely entitled to know where their taxes go and expect every euro to be spent wisely. And that includes the money that Ireland sends here to the European budget. I

Madam President, Commissioner, I know Canada becoming an associate EU member really caught the attention of Britain but that conversation definitely shouldn't stop here, because the world has drastically changed since 2016. Thankfully, the mood in Britain seems to have changed, too. At a time when democracy, open markets, standards of decency are all being challenged around the world, the EU and t

Mr President, Commissioner, if a small Irish business can't afford to sell to France or to Germany because of EU packaging rules, I really don't know what the single market is at, because I'm really struggling to understand how somebody thought this was a sensible idea in the first place. We're telling people to shop European to reduce our reliance – and rightly so – on the large Chinese importers

Madam President, if you're living in Dublin and getting up every morning, packing the school bags and heading off to work to provide for your family, you hear constantly that Ireland has a strong economy, but let's be honest, that means very little if you're not feeling the benefit of it. If you work hard, you absolutely should feel the benefit of a thriving economy and that's why, this week, Fine

Madam President, I have four lovely children at home. They're growing up now, but they were still small when social media became part of their lives. They were trying to figure it out, and if I'm really honest with you, so was I. At the time, I was a cabinet minister; I was working hard in government. We all know the story, but platforms were working just as hard to try to get my kids' attention.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, colleagues, Europe has finally recognised that housing is an emergency. It's a crisis. Our own country, our own citizens know this too. So now we need to act like it is. We've shown that where there is a political will, permitting can be accelerated. It's no surprise that for energy and defence projects, Europe has taken the necessary urgent action to cut red

Mr President, Commissioner, for the first time, human activity has become the minority on the internet. More than half all of web traffic is now generated by bots, with almost 40 % of that traffic coming from malicious bots designed to scam, steal, manipulate or attack. Maybe the dead internet theory is no longer so far-fetched. AI-powered bots are mimicking human behaviour, spreading disinformati

Mr. President, Mr. President, you are welcome. Colleagues, our former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald said that joining Europe completed Ireland's journey to independence and history has proven him to be so right. Every generation inherits moments that define the nation and for Ireland, one of those moments was in 1973, and Ireland chose Europe. And it was a choice about the kind of country that we wa

Mr President, colleagues, if you've ever had the opportunity to do Erasmus, you know exactly what kind of a life-changing experience it can be. You arrive in a new city, you know absolutely nobody, and a few months later you leave with friends for life, new skills, greater confidence and a completely different view of the world. It's an education in life itself. That's why I have to ask: how do we

Madam President, Commissioner, it's hard to believe that I and others are still standing here arguing for basic protections for victims of crime across Europe in 2026, and the last EU Victims Law was written in 2012. Since then, crime has gone digital, abuse has gone cross-borders, and parts of the online world have become a breeding ground for harassment, exploitation and intimidation, particular

Mr President, Commissioner, across the European Union, we rightly take pride in being one of the most prosperous, educated and socially developed regions in the world. And yet, every single day, millions of our children are waking up in homes that are struggling to afford food, heating, school supplies or even a secure home, a roof over their head. That should be a shame on every single one of us.

Madam President, Commissioner, the 28th regime might sound like the name of a horror movie, but I think it's one of the most important things the Commission has done in an awfully long time. We say the single market is one of Europe's biggest success stories, but for so many of our smaller businesses, it is something that still seems hypothetical, something they hear about but actually never get t

Madam President, I want to speak directly to anybody who has ever been abused or attacked online – and unfortunately, there's far too many – but I want you to know that we see you, but we also clearly see the need to protect you. When I was a kid, when you got home, at least the bullying stopped. Now it follows you into your home, into your bedroom, into your pocket, into your thoughts. There's li

Madam President, Ombudsman, colleagues, I want to take a moment like my other Irish colleague to recognise the outstanding work of fellow Irishwoman Emily O'Reilly as the former European Ombudsman. Under her leadership, the Office has strengthened transparency, accountability and public trust right across the EU institutions. One area where her work has been particularly forward-looking is in the

Madam President, colleagues, we know that Europe doesn't lack savers. What we lack is a system capable of putting those savings to work. European households have almost EUR 10 trillion worth of savings in low-yield bank accounts, often earning very little money and getting steadily eroded by inflation. Meanwhile, many of our most innovative companies still struggle to access the capital that they

Mr President, colleagues, I think it's very clear that artificial intelligence is now being used to generate sexual abuse material, and not just as a mother or a woman, I am absolutely horrified. We've all the warning signs. The reports of the recent Grok AI scandal showed that the system can be manipulated to generate explicit imagery, and I think this is really deeply disturbing, and I welcome t

Madam President, Commissioner, for more than 30 years we have congratulated ourselves on the single market. We think it's the jewel on the crown of Europe. But we have to be honest, it's absolutely nowhere close to being truly single. We have 27 different energy markets, 27 digital rulebooks, 27 capital markets. In too many cases, we have 27 bureaucracies protecting national comfort zones. That is

I think there are many crises that have been caused by actions of the Member States. But what we've been trying to do, Michael, as you well know, for the last 12 months, is to address the issues that are causing delays and interrupting the building supply that come from here. We're not trying to interfere with Member States and the decisions that they make, but we're trying to recognise that some

Thank you for the question. I'm not really sure I agree with the sentiment that you've outlined. What I have seen for the last 14 months is collective parties trying to work together in order to solve a problem for all of the people in all of our Member States. It isn't about political ideology; it's about recognising that our young people can't afford to have a home, which they should absolutely

Madam President, Commissioner, today we have an opportunity to change the direction of the lives of a generation of young people. In my own home town, Dublin, and in cities right across Ireland, young people who are working hard and are doing absolutely everything right cannot find a home that they can afford to buy. Many are still living with their mammies long beyond the age that they should hav

Madam President, child poverty isn't inevitable; it's the result of our choices, but we can choose differently. Right across the EU, more than one in four children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. And this is not just happening in struggling economies; it's happening in some of the most wealthy, successful societies in the world. Countries with strong growth, thriving businesses and sol

Mr President, thank you Commissioner, there is probably a number of people in this room – and definitely lots watching – that were bullied when they were children, singled out for being different. But at least when you got home it was safe. Today there is no safe switch; you can't turn it off. Technology is supposed to open doors, not trap our children in a 24-hour cycle of abuse. But cyberbullyin

Madam President, Commissioner, for too long, Europe has treated our digital comms as a tech matter; in truth, it's a political issue. We only ever notice our mobile phone network, our internet, when it falls. But our economies, public services and democracies rely on it every single day. Europe cannot be a global leader when every Member State plays by different rules, when investment is too slow

Madam President, Commissioner Jørgensen, housing is now the single biggest cost-of-living pressure facing people across Europe. In Dublin, rents are at a record high. Young people can't afford to move out of their homes. Students are struggling to find digs. Even our nurses, teachers and Gardai can't live in the areas that they're serving. Whilst I recognise that housing has never been a European

Mr President, the aviation sector is an absolutely vital part of our European economy. It provides countless jobs and huge investment. It is also a vital lifeline for peripheral parts of the European Union, like my own country, Ireland. In 2019, air transport supported approximately 14 million jobs and EUR 851 billion to GDP in Europe. But decarbonisation remains a really important challenge and o