What Mick spoke about.

4

May

2022

EN Speech

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Reports of continued organ harvesting in China

Madam President, most claims around organ harvesting in China originate from front groups run by the far—right anti—China cult, Falun Gong. A cult, let me remind you, that believes science was passed down by aliens to control humans and that Donald Trump was sent to destroy Communism. The recent unscientific paper claiming to expose deaths by organ extraction in China between 1980 and 2015, was fu…

4

May

2022

EN Speech

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The social and economic consequences for the EU of the Russian war in Ukraine - reinforcing the EU’s capacity to act (debate)

Mr President, the social and economic consequences for the EU of the Russian war in Ukraine are immense. Ukraine, the EU and the Global South are the biggest losers in this war. The impact on fuel, oil, energy and agriculture prices, the tightening supplies of food mean that many countries will be unable to pay their foreign debts. The euro has been undermined and we’re risking an EU-wide recessio…

2

May

2022

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, in April, SIPRI reported that total global military expenditure increased in 2021 to reach USD 2.1 trillion – the highest global annual spend on record. A clear year—on—year drop in global arms sales in the post—Cold War years has been reversed, principally by the US following September 9/11. It’s been a bonanza for the global arms industry ever since. We know that global warming and…

2

May

2022

EN Speech

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A sustainable blue economy in the EU: the role of fisheries and aquaculture (short presentation)

Mr President, I’d like to thank the rapporteur for her report. She talks about the impact of the loss of marine biodiversity, protected marine areas and the need for balanced development, the role of international governance and she talks about coastal communities. We’re in a strange place in Ireland because, as my colleague has already pointed out, fishermen in Ireland have been shafted for years…

2

May

2022

EN Speech

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Amending Annexes IV and V to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (debate)

Madam President, the transition to high-quality and toxic—free material cycles cannot be achieved while allowing persistent organic pollutants to be recycled in materials. The weak limits on the presence of persistent organic pollutants proposed by the Commission would undermine the Stockholm Convention and the European Green Deal. Weak limits would do more harm than good. Weak limits would underm…

2

May

2022

EN Speech

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Election of the Members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (debate)

Mr President, the people advocating for this initiative claim they want more engagement from the citizens across Europe with the EU. But, I mean, how in God’s name is this going to fix us? Many people are asking, what is democracy? Democracy is where the people have a say in how their society is organised. There isn’t much of it around. In Member States, it’s been watered down dramatically by the …

7

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 March 2022: including the latest developments of the war against Ukraine and the EU sanctions against Russia and their implementation (RC-B9-0197/2022, B9-0197/2022, B9-0200/2022, B9-0201/2022, B9-0203/2022, B9-0210/2022, B9-0211/2022)

Mr President, this war is empowering all the worst elements everywhere – in Russia, in Ukraine and in NATO countries. The voices of barbarism are drowning out the voices for peace. The arms industry, the fossil fuel industry, the warmongers and war lending polluters are presented by the media as the same people, the reasonable ones. We have just had the publication of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment R…

7

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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EU Protection of children and young people fleeing the war against Ukraine (B9-0207/2022, B9-0212/2022, B9-0213/2022)

Mr President, War is always brutal, particularly brutal for children. Many Ukrainian children fleeing the war will be very vulnerable. Dealing with their needs will be a massive challenge for Member States that have not prioritised the most vulnerable in their own countries to date. A new approach is required to prioritise the interests of the most vulnerable. Speaking of vulnerable, I went to Les…

7

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Right to repair (B9-0175/2022)

Mr President, the Commission’s right to repair legislative proposal this year should include unrestricted access to spare parts and software, comprehensive information and affordable repair services. The Commission should support local, grassroots and community repair initiatives, cooperatives and social enterprises. This is all important to avoid monopolies in relation to repairs. However, the Co…

7

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Mental Health (debate)

Mr President, Ireland spends just 6% of its total health budget on mental health; Germany spends 12%; Norway 13.5% and France 15%. More than 3300 children are waiting for a consultant appointment with the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service in Ireland. Acute adult psychiatric units are operating at almost 90% occupancy, yet the safe occupancy level is at 85%. We have a medicalised mental…

7

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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The situation of marginalised Roma communities in the EU (debate)

Mr President, just last week, the European Committee of Social Rights determined that Ireland was in breach of Article 16 of the revised European Social Charter, a binding human rights treaty, for chronic failure to provide sufficient accommodation for travellers and maintain adequate conditions of existing sites. The Committee found there were inadequate safeguards governing travellers’ evictions…

6

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Violations of right to seek asylum and non-refoulement in the EU Member States (debate)

Madam President, as Europe rightly welcomes Ukrainian refugees, the EU border agency Frontex is engaged in a brutal and illegal push-back campaign in the Aegean Sea against asylum seekers from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and much of Africa. Amir Zahiri and Akif Razuli fled Afghanistan – which was destroyed by the US and NATO for 20 years. They travelled from Turkey to Greece in 2020 to claim a…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Outcome of the EU-China Summit (1 April 2022) (debate)

Mr President, the Chinese President made four proposals on the Ukraine crisis during the summit. He insists on promoting peace talks, on measures to prevent a wider humanitarian crisis, that we must build lasting peace in Europe and Eurasia, and we must prevent regional conflicts from spreading. Before the meeting, China’s Foreign Minister’s spokesperson said ‘China disapproves of solving problems…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan, in particular the situation of women’s rights (debate)

Madam President, the war in Afghanistan never stopped. It just changed its nature. Economic sanctions are a weapon of war. They are not visible like aerial bombardment is, but they have the same murderous consequences. What is more, they kill women and children, the sick and the elderly, first and foremost. Anyone who has ever voted to implement economic sanctions, that have blanket effects on a p…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Trans-European energy infrastructure (debate)

Madam President, the revision of the trans-European Network Energy Regulation could have a huge impact on the EU’s chances of achieving its climate goals. The revision of the regulation appears to have got to grips with the conflict of interest in the current TEN-E process, where gas demand has been consistently overestimated by the European network of transmission system operators for gas. This r…

4

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, in his excellent book The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War, Nicholas Mulder explains how economic sanctions, though meant to function as an alternative to war, are modelled on devastating techniques of warfare. Sanctions are a form of war, and often the consequences are shocking. Some 500 000 children died in Iraq because of sanctions; 40 000 people died…

4

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Protection of the rights of the child in civil, administrative and family law proceedings (short presentation)

Madam President, thanks to the rapporteur. I think it’s a very worthwhile piece of work on your part. And I’m just kind of wondering what kind of a role the EU can play. I’m just conscious of the challenges at home in Ireland at the moment. I mean, you mentioned taking into account the age and needs of the children, the free legal representation and psychological support, and training of judges. I…

4

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Future of fisheries in the Channel, North Sea, Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean (debate)

Madam President, this report completely omits the fact that Ireland, which lost 15% of its quota under the agreement, was proportionately substantially more impacted by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement than any other Member State. It is absolutely essential that the review of the common fisheries policy scheduled for this year addresses the hugely disproportionate impact of Brexit on the Irish …

4

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Revision of the Market Stability Reserve for the EU Emissions Trading System (debate)

Madam President, without this standalone revision of the Market Stability Reserve, the intake rate will revert to 12% after 2023. So I support the fast tracking of this standalone revision. However, the current 24% must be the floor and not the ceiling for the intake rate. The Market Stability Reserve has been effective in supporting the ETS carbon price signal in recent years, but it was designed…

4

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Urgent need to adopt the minimum tax directive (debate)

Madam President, thanks to globalisation, economic restructuring and pro—business legislation over recent decades, the rise in the share of national income going to the owners of capital in most countries has increased astronomically. And this legislation doesn’t put enough of a dent in it. The proposed minimum, which has been watered down to 15%, is only barely above the abysmal 12.5% that we hav…

4

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (debate)

Madam President, ‘global warming reaching 1.5 ° centigrade in the near term would cause unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards and present multiple risks to ecosystems and humans’. This is a quote from the report. It’s a remarkable statement. Are we happy that the 1.5 ° target is actually going to be okay? And Commissioner, tell me, are you concerned about the over-reliance on negative-…

24

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Need for an urgent EU action plan to ensure food security inside and outside the EU in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (RC-B9-0160/2022, B9-0160/2022, B9-0162/2022, B9-0163/2022, B9-0164/2022, B9-0165/2022, B9-0166/2022, B9-0167/2022)

–. Mr President, there was a piece on the fertiliser crisis on the Jerry O’Sullivan Show on Radio Kerry in Ireland lately. After the show, a farmer contacted Jerry. He said, ‘In Ireland, we’ve had four fertilizer or fodder crises in the last 12 years’. The farmer said that the intensification of farming, particularly of the dairy sector, was coming back to bite us. ‘Farmers have been pushed’, he s…

24

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Macro-financial assistance to the Republic of Moldova (A9-0043/2022 - Markéta Gregorová)

Mr President, there are few case studies like Eastern Europe that give lie to the myth that capitalism creates a general prosperity. The former Soviet republics have been carved up through IMF shock therapy, neoliberal economic reforms and an endless series of privatisation scandals ever since 1990, robbing state coffers of the funds needed to address the plight of their people and giving rise to …

24

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Update from the Commission and Council on the state of play of the Energy Charter Treaty modernisation exercise (debate)

Mr President, the Energy Charter Treaty is a relic of a fossil-fuel past and beyond reform. The EU is probably wasting its time by engaging in a reform process that isn’t going anywhere. The reforms will not be coherent with the Paris Agreement targets and the European Green Deal, for three main reasons: it won’t immediately end protection for all fossil fuel investments. At best, existing coal, g…

23

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, under the cover of UN Resolution 2216, the US and Saudi gave themselves permission to use violence in Yemen in an effort to reinstate the corrupt and incompetent President Hadi, who had been rejected by the people of Yemen. For the last seven years, US- and British—made planes have been dropping bombs on the poorest country in the Middle East, while well—paid public relations firm…