What Clare spoke about.

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Need to fight the increase of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred (debate)

Madam President, the wretched history of antisemitism and Islamophobia on this continent is measured in centuries. Both have produced horrific crimes. Neither has gone away. And our moral rejection of bigotry must be absolute and resolute. Hatred and dehumanisation lead all too quickly to violence and repression, and nobody from any minority should experience it. And I really wish I could say that…

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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The fight against hate speech and disinformation: responsibility of social platforms within the Digital Services Act (topical debate)

Mr President, our media and our social media is awash with hate speech and disinformation. Israeli officials are on air and online every day, spewing out the vilest, most despicable hate speech. Silicon Valley tech investors and the Israeli Government conspire in WhatsApp groups to shut down pro-Palestine voices online, and to work their contacts to set online narrative for Israel. But, of course,…

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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This is Europe - Debate with the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis (debate)

Madam President and President, I listened very carefully to your opening remarks. And for me, I think, Romania is one of the most interesting European countries. I think the Romanian people are pretty much like the Irish people, in my experience, in terms of their approach to life. I spent a month in Timişoara and Bucharest in the spring of 1990 as a student leader from Ireland, and learned so muc…

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Russiagate: allegations of Russian interference in the democratic processes of the European Union (debate)

Madam President, so far the EU and US response to Israeli genocide has been straight from the abuser’s handbook, DARVO: ‘deny, attack, reverse victim and offender’. And if that doesn’t work, just change the subject. So as the genocide in Gaza continues, you want to talk about everything but Gaza. You refused to put the item on an agenda, an agenda stacked with every cliché imaginable, from Venezue…

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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EU2040 climate target (debate)

Mr President, the Climate Law is supposed to be our answer to the climate crisis – all-encompassing, supposed to involve all sectors. But there’s always one that we turn a blind eye to: militaries are responsible for about 5.5 % of global greenhouse-gas emissions, more than global aviation and shipping combined. If the global militaries were a country, they’d be the fourth-largest global emitter. …

6

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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The need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, since before Russia invaded Ukraine, NATO was in terminal decline. The scam of European moral superiority wasn’t working. A spent force discredited by decades of illegal wars in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. Then along came Russia and took the bait, and the whole sorry saga went down the memory hole. European leaders parading around chanting about glory, draped in flags, pretending to…

5

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Situation in Haiti on the eve of the deployment of the United Nations Multinational Security Support Mission (debate)

Mr President, in a UN Security Council minute from January this year, it is stated ‘the persistent political impasse in Haiti remains a significant obstacle to effective governance.’ Well, they should know because those responsible were in the same room. Haiti is – God help them – an assisted state supported in nation building by the US, pretty much like they helped Iraq and Afghanistan. Is it any…

5

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Union-wide effect of certain driving disqualifications (debate)

Mr President, I think this is an important file, but it should be handled carefully. We don’t want data bogged down for minor misdemeanours. We have a history of problems in Ireland with the way in which our police force have managed traffic offences, with a lot of political or Garda interference in that. I think this should be about enforcing driving disqualification across the EU for offences wh…

5

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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Measures for a high level of public sector interoperability across the Union (Interoperable Europe Act) (debate)

Mr President, the Trilogue outcome that we’re discussing today is a fairly mixed one – some good stuff, some bad. However, the general theme that public sector systems should be interoperable is an important one and something that the EU has been championing for a while. Against that backdrop, it’s really strange that the Irish Government has recently concluded a contract for EUR 86 million for el…

5

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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State of EU solar industry in light of unfair competition (debate)

Mr President, solar panels just keep getting cheaper and cheaper, solar prices have dropped by 85 %, that’s something we should be delighted about. At those prices, we can actually undergo a rapid transition of our energy system and meet our climate goals with ease. But instead of that, we’re in here complaining about it. We say that other countries subsidising their solar panel manufacturing is u…

18

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds (B9-0086/2024)

Madam President, I abstained on this motion because it’s the same old familiar dance: Hungary blackmails the Commission, the Commission blackmails Hungary. No doubt they’ll cause another dirty deal at some stage. And the Commission will trade away Hungarian minority rights and judicial independence, all for a few billion to backstop what they call their strategic interests in Ukraine. The rule of …

18

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need to reach a ceasefire and the risks of regional escalation (RC-B9-0068/2024, B9-0068/2024, B9-0069/2024, B9-0071/2024, B9-0073/2024, B9-0075/2024, B9-0077/2024)

Madam President, I voted against this resolution because what was initially a mealy-mouthed call for a ceasefire has been turned on its head thanks to the amendment put forward by the EPP and shamefully supported by five Irish MEPs. The text that was passed now calls for a ceasefire on precisely the same preconditions as Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded, dismantling Hamas and the unconditional rele…

18

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Situation of fundamental rights in the EU in 2022 and 2023 (A9-0376/2023 - Katarina Barley)

Madam President, there’s a lot that’s really good in this report, but I had to reluctantly abstain on it because it legitimises the use of spyware against journalists. Now the threat to media freedoms are deeply troubling, and we have to do a lot more, but we only ever talk about certain kinds of threats to media freedom. We never acknowledge the others – the hard limits that our politics and our …

18

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Recent EU-Audits identifying that Uruguayan and Argentinian meat from horses with unreliable sworn declarations and unknown drug history is entering the EU (debate)

Madam President, global meat consumption has exploded since around 1961, with meat production quadrupling to meet this demand, and we’ve reached a situation where the meat on our plates can come directly from the other side of the world. Well, not my plate anyway, because I’m a vegetarian and I think I live longer and healthier as a result of it. But in any case, the publication of the Commission’…

17

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Extending the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime (debate)

Madam President, in the past few months, we’ve seen Palestinian solidarity decried as hate speech. We’ve seen claims of anti-Semitism being used to downplay the slaughter of innocents in Gaza and to cover up for the legitimate criticism of Zionism. And with all of this rage in the background, the EU decides to stomp onto the scene with plans to criminalise hate speech. The problem with that is: do…

17

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Norway's recent decision to advance seabed mining in the Arctic (debate)

Mr President, we sought to put this item on the agenda, because Norway is taking the world down a slippery slope to rip up the depths of the sea. And to make matters worse, they’re claiming they can do this environmentally destructive activity in a sustainable way. Now come on. What they’re actually doing is opening up an area the size of Italy to exploration for deep-sea mining, with the governme…

16

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Role of preventive diplomacy in tackling frozen conflicts around the world – missed opportunity or change for the future? (debate)

Madam President, so we’re here today celebrating the EU’s great role in preventive diplomacy. What an absolute joke! When the truth is that the EU has been seriously active not in preventive diplomacy, but in preventing diplomacy. We’ve had two years where the very concept of diplomacy has been smeared as a Russian plot. You’ve pulled out all the stops to smash the slightest chance of dialogue in …

16

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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EU-India relations (debate)

Madam President, according to Ursula von der Leyen, India and the EU are vibrant democracies that share fundamental values and common interests. We’re actually natural partners, or at least that’s what she told Narendra Modi while shaking his hand in New Delhi on one of the many occasions she’s met with him in the hopes of lining India up against China and Russia. This is the same Modi whose ultra…

16

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need to reach a ceasefire and the risks of regional escalation (debate)

Mr President, despite the catastrophic death toll it has inflicted, Israel is losing – on the ground and in the court of public opinion. There is no way that this ends that doesn’t leave Israel a pariah state, with occupation and apartheid on borrowed time, and they know it. So they’re doing everything they can. Desperate acts of aggression to provoke a wider conflict with Lebanon, with Iran, with…

16

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Transparency and accountability of non-governmental organisations funded from the EU budget (debate)

Mr President, there are, of course, some NGOs whose politics we may not like, whom we believe are stooges for vested interests, or dare to promote their own gravy train. But you don’t deal with that by trying to annihilate them – at least not if you claim to be a democrat. But that has been what this issue has been about, spearheaded by the EPP. Discipline people with politics you don’t like by ch…

16

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Empowering consumers for the green transition (debate)

Mr President, you can’t really go into a shop nowadays without everything you see being marketed as ‘climate neutral’. Whether it’s a pair of runners or a bunch of bananas, people are constantly bombarded by these generic claims, which actually don’t mean anything. We even have airlines selling ‘carbon-neutral’ flights. This has made a joke of the whole idea of conscious consumption and has lead s…

16

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Keeping commitments and delivering military assistance to Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, it’s almost the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine, a war that it is now openly acknowledged could have ended in the first few months if the West hadn’t vetoed the April 2022 peace deal. Instead, ye told Ukraine to fight on, and the result of that is hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians lost four provinces and any hope of independence ever again. Ukraine is trapped in an unwinna…

15

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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The role of social award criteria in public procurement in strengthening social rights, good working conditions and inclusive labour markets (debate)

Mr President, I think the title of this debate in some ways really sounds somewhat like a bit of a deluded fantasy when we all know that across Europe, social rights and workers’ conditions are under assault like never before, and public procurement, far from being the great leveller, is actually a contributing factor to this inequality. It’s legitimised theft on a phenomenal scale. It’s not only …

15

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Revision of the European Labour Authority mandate (debate)

Madam President, I think that the creation of the European Labour Authority (ELA) in 2019, as we know, was intended to ensure that the EU rules on labour mobility and social security coordination would be applied fairly, simply and effectively. And while it’s still a relatively new organisation, I think we can say that that didn’t happen. And in some ways, it can’t really happen fully as long as n…

15

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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The need for an EU and international response to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and for continued support to the Yemeni peace process (debate)

Madam President, every day now the mask falls further. On the very same day that the West's pet bulldog, Israel, was hauled into The Hague to face the charge of genocide in which EU countries are complicit, our so-called like minded partners, the US and Britain, flout the UN charter to commit their latest crime of aggression: illegal, unprovoked, unjustified airstrikes on Yemen, lawless barbarous …