What Luke Ming spoke about.

8 Oct

2026

EN Speech

EU strategies for islands, coastal communities and outermost regions (debate)

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Madam President, small islands dependent on fishing have been recognised in the common fisheries policy since 2013, but despite this, there has been no meaningful support provided to island communities. Islander experience to date in accessing support has been negative at best, particularly when it comes to accessing PO funding. What we need to do is guarantee that island support must be explicitl…

7 Oct

2026

EN Speech

Implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation (debate)

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Mr President, to restore nature, we need to pay for a just transition. I voted against this regulation because there was no real commitment to fund it, and the cost of implementation would fall to those least able to afford it. Unfortunately – and I mean this – in both national and EU level, I have been proved right. In Ireland, we were promised EUR 3.15 billion via a dedicated climate and nature …

16 Sep

2026

EN Speech

Stop gold-plating, relieve SMEs: Member States must implement EU legislation without adding extra bureaucracy (topical debate)

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Madam President, the ACRES environmental scheme in Ireland is the most complex environmental scheme we have seen. That's according to DG ENVI. I'm not here to argue that the scheme shouldn't be so complex: Irish farmers are well educated and if paid well enough for the scheme, which they're not, then they would deal with the complexity. I don't want to hear, 'Well, we had a record number of people…

9 Jul

2026

EN Question

Evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy and follow-up (debate)

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Cynthia, I have a very important question. Eighty-seven percent of fishers in Ireland are small-scale fishers. There is nothing stopping the Irish state from giving small-scale, low-impact fishers access to more quota. Nothing stopping us. There is nothing stopping the Irish state from providing small-scale fishers in Ireland with funding, front-loaded. But it isn't happening. And you can actually…

9 Jul

2026

EN Speech

Evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy and follow-up (debate)

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Mr President, dear Commissioner, I was glad to see that the evaluation clearly recognises that healthy ecosystems are a prerequisite for sustainable and profitable fisheries. In the PECH Committee last month, you said that improving daily life for small‑scale fishers is a priority for the Commission. However, the findings of the evaluation are stark. It finds that the CFP is not effectively suppor…

7 Jul

2026

EN Speech

Presentation of the programme of activities of the Irish Presidency (debate)

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Mr. President, welcome, Mr. President. Welcome to you, Thomas. Madam President, when I got elected to the European Parliament, I got elected as a sceptic. I got elected because I was told by the Irish Government continuously when they weren't happy with the EU enforcing rules, that they were made to do it. I have discovered otherwise. And since I got elected here, I have to say I believe the commo…

17 Jun

2026

EN Speech

Protecting children’s safety and mental health from the risks posed by social media – our duty to act now (debate)

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Madam President, we already have an abundance of legislation. We keep having reports, hearings and debates. Yet still, in the Eurobarometer published this week, adolescents and parents agree that the action that would help most to improve adolescent mental health well-being online is better implementation and enforcement of existing rules and regulations. But as a parent, I would have to say the b…

19 May

2026

EN Answer

Presentation of the Fertilisers Action Plan (debate)

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A bit like a heroin addict that is addicted to heroin, they need it today, but you should aim for a future where you will not be dependent on something that is not sustainable and would ultimately destroy you. We need it because you made us dependent on it. We need to find a path out of that. Otherwise, we are dependent on forces outside our control, people like Vladimir Putin. And now, your party…

19 May

2026

EN Speech

Presentation of the Fertilisers Action Plan (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, the Commission's words today on a fertiliser strategy directly contradict their cumulative actions over the last three years. Under the guise of simplification, environmental actions that would have created a more resilient agriculture were gutted and torn apart to appease industrial agriculture in successive, mini‑reforms of CAP since 2022. The current model of inte…

12 Feb

2026

EN Speech

Cooperation among enforcement authorities regarding unfair trading practices in the agri-food supply chain (debate)

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Madam President, I think this is good news. We often get a lot of bad news around here, but this is an improvement. I'd like to congratulate the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteurs, and everyone who was involved in this. I'd like to have been a bit more involved, but unfortunately the review of the other unfair trade practices regulation in the CMO was also being negotiated at the same time. But…

11 Feb

2026

EN Speech

State violence in Minneapolis and the rule of law in the United States (topical debate)

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Madam President, to the speaker who said this was a waste of time: I suggest you shouldn't have come here in the first place. No one forced you to debate. It is important to discuss this. We need to discuss what our relationship should be with the state that is shooting its citizens dead on the street. We need to discuss whether it should be 'business as usual' with a country that is rounding up E…

21 Oct

2025

EN Speech

Recent peace agreement in the Middle East and the role of the EU (debate)

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Madam President, so what is the role of the EU in bringing about peace in the Middle East? Firstly, we must recognise the EU's role in facilitating a genocide. We must accept that Ursula von der Leyen's unconditional support for Israel emboldened it in committing the most horrific war crimes. We must accept that the EU's refusal to suspend our trade agreement with Israel has helped it bankroll a g…

7 Oct

2025

EN Speech

Common agricultural policy (joint debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, we meet again. This time I'm agreeing with you. Everyone should get fair remuneration for their work. It's fundamental. It's a human right. And as things stand, many, many farmers do not get fair remuneration. This proposed improved CMO Regulation goes some way to improving the lot of farmers. It attempts to enhance the existing provision on contracts – written contract…

10 Jul

2025

EN Speech

Post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner, good to talk to you again. I actually think that the current structure of CAP could actually be quite good, and I think many of the people who complain about it have never read it and are just being populist. If they did actually read it and look at it, they could see that if it was applied correctly, it could actually be very good, and it's why I voted for it in the…

17 Jun

2025

EN Speech

Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner Kallas, what ever happened to the peace project known as the European Union? We are, as my colleague said, watching a live-streamed genocide in Gaza. And rather than taking concrete action to stop the genocide, the so-called 'peace project' is aiding and abetting the aggressor. The EU's largest state, Germany, supplies one third of the instruments of death to Israel. The…

17 Jun

2025

EN Speech

European Ocean Pact (debate)

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Madam President, the best way to protect our oceans is to support small-scale fishers over super-trawlers, and the best way to protect local fishing communities is to support small-scale fishers over super-trawlers. Is it happening? Not at the moment, no. In Ireland, 87.5 % of all fishers operate out of boats of 12 metres and less, yet they have access to less than 1 % of herring stocks and 4 % of…

1 Apr

2025

EN Speech

EU Preparedness Union Strategy (debate)

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Madam President, Commissioner Lahbib spoke about anticipating risk. We should have anticipated the risk when we made ourselves dependent on Vladimir Putin for energy and fertiliser. We should now anticipate the risk in leaving ourselves 85 % dependent on the US for soya imports. What looked like a stable relationship with the US is now in tatters. But we're not learning – quite the opposite. Throu…

13 Mar

2025

EN Question

A Vision for Agriculture and Food (debate)

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Thanks for taking the blue card, MEP Cowen. Like myself, you come from an area which is full of peaty soils, peatlands. When it comes to bogs, I don't think there are two MEPs in here who've actually seen more. There is massive concern in Ireland at the moment about how GAEC 2 will be implemented. People who have 51 % peaty soil in their land parcels are having the whole of that land parcel includ…

13 Mar

2025

EN Speech

A Vision for Agriculture and Food (debate)

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Mr President, laced throughout this text is the more positive concept of food sovereignty within the EU, as opposed to food security. It's obviously a good thing. There's a recognition that farmers must get a better return from the marketplace. Excellent! There's a recognition that our dependencies on imported inputs that we have allowed to build up put agriculture in a vulnerable position. That's…

13 Feb

2025

EN Question

EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement (debate)

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You accused MEPs on the left of telling lies about this agreement. It's one hell of a claim to make. What lies are you referring to? Is it a lie to say that, as a result of this agreement, 9 % of all high-value beef cuts being sold in the EU will come from Mercosur? Is it a lie to say that we don't have EUR 1 billion compensation to pay farmers? Is it a lie to say it isn't a win-win, when suckler …

13 Feb

2025

EN Speech

EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement (debate)

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Madam President, in order to properly debate the impact of this proposed agreement – proposed agreement; the title doesn't say proposed, but we haven't agreed to it yet – the proposed agreement on beef farmers in the EU, we need to compare like with like. In other words, you cannot compare carcass waste to processed premium beef waste. But that's what your spin doctors are doing. The reality is th…

18 Dec

2024

EN Speech

Challenges facing EU farmers and agricultural workers: improving working conditions, including their mental well-being (debate)

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Mr President, the title is very important. It talks about improving mental well-being in farmers. Now, I know this is a parliament, and the word 'parliament' comes from the word 'to talk', but it's our job to do more than just talk. It's our job to do something to improve the situation. It's also our job not to make it any worse, and we are doing that. The first thing we could do to improve farmer…

27 Nov

2024

EN Speech

Presentation by the President-elect of the Commission of the College of Commissioners and its programme (debate)

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Madam President, there are so many reasons to vote against this new Commission. We start with the President, von der Leyen. You enabled genocide in Palestine by giving unconditional support to Israel. Christophe Hansen, you were very clear in your support for Mercosur. You also have no ambition to increase the CAP budget, no public money for the Nature Restoration Law. Michael McGrath, from Irelan…

22 Oct

2024

EN Question

Urgent need for a ceasefire in Lebanon and for safeguarding the UNIFIL mission in light of the recent attacks (debate)

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MEP Andrews, you talk a good talk in here, and what you said earlier was very good and very interesting. But I find it hard to square that with the fact that you are part of a government in Ireland that facilitates US war planes landing at Shannon, facilitates weapons being transported through our airspace. And while that continues, do you not think you are a hypocrite coming in here, saying you'r…

22 Oct

2024

EN Speech

Urgent need for a ceasefire in Lebanon and for safeguarding the UNIFIL mission in light of the recent attacks (debate)

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Madam President, looking at the title of the debate, I'm wondering is there a limitation to the amount of text that you can put on the screen. It says 'Urgent need for a ceasefire in Lebanon and for safeguarding the UNIFIL mission in the light of the recent attacks'. I'll finish it off you: 'by Israel, using weapons provided by Germany and the United States of America'. There will be no ceasefire …