Speeches

Mr President, I think there is an irony that we are discussing the future of a social Europe at the very same time that the EU has tightened the reins of budgetary surveillance and fiscal restraint. That won’t be lost on people, because you can make all the declarations you like, but when everybody knows that the deal has been done and that we’re in for another round of savage austerity for Europe, another round of structural reforms, everybody knows that means more poverty, more inequality, more precarity and another massive transfer of wealth upwards. Austerity left the eurozone as an economic shadow of its former self. The US economy has grown to twice the size of the eurozone over the past 15 years. The once mighty European manufacturing sector now limps along behind America and China. And you want to do it all over again? People have nothing left to give. This is a monumental act of self-harm which you’re trying to sell as progress. Believe me when I tell you absolutely nobody is buying it.

Dear President, this week, German police halted a solidarity event for Palestine at the Reichstag in Berlin. The activists were told that it is illegal to speak languages other than German and English at protests. The police ordered the removal of Irish flags and Irish posters. This is a disgraceful threat to the right of assembly in Germany. This is not right at all. Madam President, all EU languages are supposed to be equal, as are all minority languages. This institution should stand for linguistic equality and defend our fundamental rights. It is shameful that Germany, after outlawing pro-Palestinian gatherings, is censoring people from speaking their own language, whether it is Irish or Arabic. Ireland stands by Palestine. The day of Palestine will come.

Mr President, I have to say, of all of the insane discussions that we’ve had in here, this one absolutely has to take the biscuit. Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel, as if Iran woke up one day and decided to strike Israel out of the blue, as if Israel’s targeted attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria, which killed 16 people, a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention, had never happened. Everybody outside this room knows the cause of the escalation is Israel. Everybody knows that Israel has been trying to broaden the conflict in the region to detract from their genocidal war on Gaza, and everybody knows that the EU, who for seven months of the most proportionately destructive war in history, have failed to condemn and sanction Israel, have immediately and unanimously condemned and sanctioned Iran for a disciplined retaliation which killed nobody. The world is changing, your settler colonial project has been exposed like never before, and the world can see that the EU emperor has no clothes.

Madam President, so here we go again, giving out about foreign interference in Georgia while brazenly interfering ourselves. We never talk about the reality of life in a country where almost a quarter of the population lives abroad, driven out by abject poverty and non-existent labour rights. The median wage in Georgia is about EUR 360 a month. Emigration is the main thing Georgians expect from EU membership. They’re not starry-eyed believers in our values, they have much bigger problems to worry about. And while the EU zealously runs the rule of law over every aspect of Georgian law and society to see if it measures up to our values, it does absolutely nothing to improve wages or conditions in Georgia. You couldn’t care less about them. Georgia’s NGO class is absolutely maximalist when it comes to liberal reforms but, like the EU, is meekly minimalist when it comes to the building blocks of a decent life: workers’ rights, minimum wages and social security. That’s what happens when your grassroots movement is led from the top and powered by grant money. You’d see deeper roots on an Astroturf pitch. Would we stop interfering and allow the Georgians to stead up their own future.

Madam President, so now we’ve had people in here demanding the unilateral seizure of Russian state assets to give to Ukraine when every single piece of legal advice, internal and external, has said, don’t go there. It’s state piracy. It’s against international law. It will only invite retaliation. It’s against the rule of law that ye constantly say ye standby. But like everything else, the US, fresh from its banditry of their EUR 7 billion heist of Afghan assets, has passed a law to take Russian ones, and the EU wants to blindly follow suit. Now I know the High Representative talks about a somersault where we will just take the interest, we won’t take the assets – again, theft, which will be a massive own goal. And on top of that, you want the money not for Ukraine’s reconstruction, for its but for its victory. There is no victory on the battlefield. Only 10 % of Europeans believe that now. What’s needed is a ceasefire and negotiations. And every day we prolong it wrecks Ukraine further.

Madam President, what has been seen cannot be unseen. And the world can now see exactly what European values really are: 200 days of Israel systematically wiping Gaza from the earth; 505 bombs a day; 21 an hour; doctors executed; mass graves in hospitals; journalists murdered. And all the while with not just the silence, but the active complicity, of the European Union. The European Union who flew the flag of the oppressor from day one; whose countries axed the funding to a starving Palestinian population, despite any evidence of any wrongdoing from anyone against UNRWA; who increased the flow of weapons to Israel tenfold since they started the genocide – weapons to slaughter Palestinians. So keep your hand-wringing and your crocodile tears. It couldn’t have happened without your complicity. It’s continuing now because of it. European values: same as it always was. Murdering colonialists: you’ll never be forgotten!

Mr President, as the present mandate draws to an end, we leave this continent poorer than it was five years ago, with record inequality, a worsening housing and cost-of-living crisis. A Europe taking a sledgehammer to solemn and necessary climate promises. A Europe which has lost the ear of a changing world. A Europe stealing from every single pocket to barrel down the road of ever-increasing war and militarisation. A Europe setting fire to international law so that you can support Israeli genocide. My God, how did we get to this point and where will we be if we have another five years of it? Well, I’ll tell you something: the people of Europe can’t afford to find that out. The parties of business as usual have lost their mandate. Change must come. In June, in every country, people have an opportunity to vote for peace and a socially just Europe. It’s more important than ever that they take it.

Madam President, I think that human trafficking is, of course, a grotesque crime, and I think we all share a commitment to fighting it. But like everything else though, that apparent commitment can be abused. And we have seen that in prosecutions of migrants and NGOs for human trafficking, when actually what they’ve been doing is saving lives. And we have seen it time and again being used to browbeat people into supporting policies that harm sex workers’ rights, for example. Now, thankfully, the more extreme elements of Parliament’s position on this directive are now gone, but the push for the Nordic model is still there however watered down. This model has been criticised by everyone, from the UN to the ILO to Amnesty International and, more importantly, by sex workers themselves. Criminalisation doesn’t reduce demand, but it does succeed in harming women. Ireland introduced this model seven years ago. It was supposed to be reviewed in 2020. Four years on, that hasn’t happened because if they did, it would be exposed for the failure that it is. So can we just deal with the crime of trafficking as it is and stop using it as a Trojan horse for other questions?

Madam President, today, it’s estimated that at least 27 million people worldwide are captured in the horror of forced labour. Of course, the regulation before us aims to prevent the sale or export of products using forced labour within the EU market, which is obviously very good. Unlike the Due Diligence Directive, for example, this regulation is supposed to deal with all products and all companies regardless of their size, which again is good. Unfortunately, once again, the Council has watered down the possibility of what we could do here because under certain circumstances, products manufactured using forced labour but likely to lead to the disruption of a supply chain of strategic or critical importance to the Union will be allowed to circulate, which, as far as I’m concerned, is an absolute joke, because what we’re seeing is the quest for critical raw materials means ditching moral concerns in relation to the matter. The text is important, but I fear that, like many other measures, it won’t be applied consistently and strictly, but rather used to pursue geopolitical objectives against our so-called enemies while ignoring the crimes of our so-called friends.

Madam President, I too, of course, am a firm believer in the repair economy, and of course, in that sense support the legislation, which will give people more consumer rights and will assist in preventing the needless disposal of products that are repairable. But at the same time, we have to recognise that our current consumption model is a huge part of the problem. With planned obsolescence and continuous growth, it is loaded against the idea of repair. And this will continue unless we address that and other serious issues, such as costs, accessibility, and other barriers, like insurance. In Ireland, for example, a recent survey showed that only 11 % of people are aware of our national repair directory, repairmystuff.ie. So, we need a concerted boost, which could be a game changer for this sustainable, hidden part of the national economy. It would be supporting vocational training and small businesses. We need this legislation and directive implemented. It can certainly help.

Madam President, there’s no doubt about it: plastic pollution is a total scourge, and this legislation does certainly go in the right direction regarding tackling it. We’re only really beginning to learn about the toxic impacts of microplastics on the environment and, critically, on human health. But I think there’s a slight irony that we’re discussing it at the moment, on the eve of the elections in the context of Ireland, because in the next month we’re going to see 600 000 plastic posters going up the length and breadth of the country for the European and local elections. None of these are going to be made of recycled plastic. Even worse, they’re going to be exposed to the elements, these eyesores leaking millions of microplastic particles directly into the environment, the big parties with large numbers, with every candidate on every lamppost. So while the people of Ireland have constantly rejected and argued for this nonsense to be scrapped, it still goes on. I, for one, won’t be participating in it and I really think this issue must be tackled.

Mr President, I voted for the discharge for the European Labour Authority because I really think that workers’ rights need to be defended across the Union. We’ve had the EU directive on adequate minimum wages, it’s not perfect, but it did provide us with an opportunity to look at some of the issues around the growing inequality and attacks on workers’ rights. It aims to increase trade union representation, tackle in-work poverty, enhance job security, reduce precarious employment and, critically, tackle the major issue of union-busting, which has been going on unabated in Ireland for 50 years since we joined the EU. Now, section 16 of the directive specifically recognises union-busting, so why did the Irish Government recently vote down – when they claim to be such great Europeans – a simple piece of legislation tabled by Joan Collins on the Protection of Employees Trade Union Subscription Bill, which would have given workers the statutory right to join a union? Not really radical, just making joining a union easier. If we want to be part of the Union, we should buy into the good bits, not just a bad.

Mr President, I too voted against the discharge for the European Commission on roughly the same grounds. This is the European Commission whose President spent EUR 28 000 draping the Israeli flag over the Berlaymont Building in Brussels, the Commission President who told Israel that ‘Europe stands with you now and in the days to come’ as the Israeli Defence Forces began its genocidal campaign in Gaza, the Commission President who flew to Israel on 13 October to offer Europe’s unconditional support after it had imposed a starvation siege on Gazan civilians, who gripped Herzog’s hand and told him ‘this is the moment for us all to stand together’, whose words were quoted in the ICJ by Israel as proof of their good intentions. There are many in Europe who will be remembered as complicit in Israel’s unprecedented crimes, especially the states – Ireland included – who kept selling arms, but nobody embodies European complicity like the genocidal psychopath at the top of the European Commission.

Mr President, I voted against the pact because it’s a bonanza for the defence and arms industry, which profits so handsomely from the wars and instability that make people refugees and migrants in the first place. It’s a scam: a massive transfer of public money straight into the pockets of the security industries. It’s billions being spent on walls and drones and spy tech, on contractors and consultants and border guards, on all of the expensive, deadly trappings of pushback, detention and surveillance. Billions taken from the things we need: health, housing, education and childcare. And this deal won’t stop migration. It probably won’t even slow it down. But it will kill plenty of people who have no choice but to leave their homes because of the policies we implement. And it will murder international law and the right to asylum. So we need to organise against the elites who are taking our money and giving it to the rich, not the poor. And for that, we need the solidarity of everybody who’s been scammed to come together and stand against the EU’s modern colonialism.

Mr President, the rules-based order is in roaring form. Two weeks ago, Israel bombs Iran’s embassy in Syria – an act of aggression against two states, the UN Charter and the Vienna Convention. Rules? Not only no condemnation, but defence of Israel against retaliation. So last week Ecuador follows suit, sends armed heavies into Mexico’s embassy, snatching an asylum claimant – an assault on refugee and diplomatic law. Of course, the US has never respected international law. It was always one law for their friends and another for everybody else. But after six months of throwing international law on the bonfire in Gaza, something is broken. We are in freefall. Strikes on hospitals – normalised. On aid convoys, refugees, civilians – normalised. Famine as a weapon of war – normalised. All with impunity. We are witnessing the collapse of the post-war system instigated by the US and Europe, all to shield Israel – our outpost – from consequences. But when the last law is down and the devil turns on us, where will we hide, all laws being flouted?

Madam President, on behalf of The Left Group, we can reluctantly agree to a debate in the April II part-session rather than now, but only on the basis that it’s accompanied by a resolution. We believe we need an urgent debate on Gaza. We should be having it today. It is an obscenity, frankly, that there hasn’t been a single debate since the landmark ICJ ruling in this Chamber at all. We need a debate on this, on the murder of journalists and humanitarian workers, but it must be accompanied by a resolution so that Parliament can make a statement on Israeli war crimes and outline the action needed to take to stop it. As millions of Europeans take to the streets, hundreds gathered in this building last night to meet and hear the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine. Anything less would be a failure on our behalf. So we would like to see also… (The President cut off the speaker)

Madam President, I was really glad to see this motion tabled, and I voted for it. It is past time for this Parliament to get serious about clipping the Commission’s wings, because the Commission, and particularly its President, are out of control. And if you care about the rule of law, that should really bother you. It’s not just that the Commission is going on mandate-free solo runs in relation to the Tunisia deal; we’ve also had Ursula von der Leyen, without any mandate, undermining Member State policy towards Europe’s biggest trading partner, China, siding with her bosses in Washington over the heads of the European governments she’s supposed to work with. We’ve had her flagrantly usurping Member States’ prerogatives in relation to foreign policy, with her trip to Israel, and her repeated declaration of Europe’s unconditional support for that gang of genocidal maniacs. And in response from this slow-rolling coup – nothing. A few quiet words of concern behind the closed doors of the Council. Not good enough! We have laws. We have Treaties. When someone starts incinerating, it should concern us all. Hopefully today’s motion is a small signal that Parliament is finally waking up to that.

Madam President, I voted for this policy because I believe that the neglect of rural communities really is immense. It’s partly reflected in the economic issues which are behind the protest movement being led currently by our farmers. But it’s also partly reflected in the terrible damage being done to these communities on an environmental front. Situations like in Ireland, where our Environment Minister has greenlighted a lithium prospecting project in Moylisha Hill in Wicklow, his department strongly advising Coillte, a State company, to allow access to those lands – even though hydrological advice says that drilling through the rock in this area will compromise very valuable water supply. The Minister says that we have to consider mining when it could be done in an environmentally sensitive way. It can’t be. It’s time to drop it. We need to invest properly in our rural communities.

Madam President, I voted in favour of this resolution because I think the public’s access to documents really plays a crucial role in ensuring that EU institutions operate transparently. It is absolutely critical for investigative media, for interest groups, for civil society or for individual citizens. And let’s be honest, the Ombudsman’s special report reveals significant and systemic delays in access to Commission documents. In 85% of the cases, the Commission failed to take a decision within the legal deadline. This amounts to maladministration, it is absolutely outrageous and it shows total contempt for the citizens of Europe. Emily O’Reilly has said that the institutions are still struggling to adapt their registration and disclosure obligations to the realities of modern communication tools. Obviously, she means Ursula von der Leyen hasn’t copped on that she’s supposed to keep text messages and so on. I was delighted to see the amendment pass that reminded the Commission that Parliament can institute infringement proceedings in this area.

Madam President, when we talk about a healthy lifestyle, I think there’s no doubt about it but the cost of living crisis and anxiety are one of the main obstacles to healthy, active ageing. Now, this morning, the Parliament debated the deteriorating living conditions in the Union. We know that, between 2021 and 2022, the prices of basic products rose by almost 17% at EU level. Seeing your savings disappear because of rising prices on basic goods and vital services, no longer being able to turn up the heating on your home because of the impact of electricity bills, no longer being able to feed yourself properly or look after your home: these are all serious concerns for people, particularly the elderly. So we can’t discuss health without discussing social inequality. And we cannot do this without recognising the economic crisis – part of which was fuelled by our suicidal response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Rather than working for a diplomatic solution, we have instead penalised ourselves. And when the Pope calls for reason and rationale and dialogue, he’s vilified and demonised. This madness has to stop. We need a Europe that is suitable for all.

Mr President, the Irish people won the right to legal, safe and free abortion in 2018 (two thousand and eighteen). This happened after many years of fighting against constitutional bans, and a situation where women had the right to travel to get an abortion outside the country, but not at home. People were fed up with this rotten pretense, attributed to us by the Magdalene laundry houses and the Mother and Child Homes. The referendum was won because the people rightly understood that society must trust women and support them in making the best choice for themselves when faced with unplanned pregnancy. Abortion should be part of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Mr President, this week’s resolution on Afghanistan is a tour of force. It really is. Gaslighting, phoney feminism, weaponised concern: all the greatest hits. Twenty years of NATO war and occupation that visited suffering, death and destruction on the women of Afghanistan: according to this resolution, it never happened. The empowerment and consolidation of the Taliban from that war and occupation: again, that never happened. A reflection on the fact that the US invaded Afghanistan to save Afghan women, and that instead murdered and maimed them in their tens of thousands, and then left – and the vast, vast majority of them worse off than they were before. Forget it! The very last thing Afghan women need is more Western concern, more of the iron fist concealed in a velvet glove. Because until the West starts reckoning with the 23 years of violence and pain it has brought to the women of Afghanistan, then you’ll never be in a position to effect change.

Mr President, as the people of Gaza face agonising death from orchestrated starvation, the EU is so concerned about the humanitarian situation that some of its Member States cut the UNRWA funding and increased arms to Israel. The US is so troubled, it’s building a pier and air-dropping food, but there’s hundreds of trucks already at the border-crossing full of supplies. It’s just they’re being prevented from crossing by the same Israel that the US is sending another USD 17.6 billion in military assistance to. What sort of sick monsters are these? There would be no famine or genocide in Gaza if Biden restrained Israel. His support has been conscious and unconditional. So as the Irish politicians shamefully cross the Atlantic to doff the cap for St Patrick’s Day and pay homage to this butcher, they should remember that our history and relationship with the US comes from our famine. Irish Americans should know the people of Ireland stand against genocide. Seasaimid leis an Phailistín. Tiocfaidh bhur lá.

Mr President, this is the first EU legislation regarding spyware, and as it stands, unless our amendments are accepted, we are legislating to authorise its use against journalists. The great EU that defends media freedom, that flies the flag of democracy against authoritarianism, is authorising the unleashing of spyware against journalists. We already know it’s been used against journalists and politicians. We know it’s not possible to regulate it. It’s so destructive, it’s classified as a weapon and subject to arms control restrictions. We don’t talk about abuse of chemical weapons or cluster bombs. We recognise it’s their use that’s the problem, and we ban them outright. And it has to be so regarding spyware. This technology takes over your device without your knowledge; it surveils your whole life and everyone who comes into contact with you. It’s abhorrent in any state that claims to be democratic. It was pioneered by Israel, tested on Palestinians. Like all other Israeli weapons, it should be banned.

Madam President, we watch in horror the live-stream genocide in Gaza. We see aid deliberately obstructed to a starving people. Meanwhile, the Maasai people are deported from their ancestral lands in Ngorongoro: women and children shot if they refused to leave; hundreds dying in recent months of a lack of blood products and basic health care. They need 9 000 bags of maize to ensure their basic survival. The Saharawi people are also exiled from their lands, their valuable resources robbed by Morocco – with whom we do business – while 77% of their people depend on World Food Programme baskets and they only receive 10% of the funding that they need. These are humanitarian crises, which need a humanitarian response. But they’re not unavoidable tragedies; they are the consequence of human actions, of settler colonial projects and efforts to drive people off their lands. And the EU – which should be intervening to uphold diplomatic efforts and international law – is dripping in the blood of Israeli genocide and has no credibility whatsoever.