What Mick spoke about.

14

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Improving the strategic approach to the enforcement of EU Law (debate)

Mr President, the right of petition in the European Parliament is the oldest participatory mechanism in the EU. They are a method for citizens to engage directly in democracy on issues such as how the EU governs and enforces laws that affect their lives. As the majority of petitions concern EU law, and as the von der Leyen Commission is the enforcer of EU law, for the petition process to work for …

14

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (COP28) (debate)

Madam President, yes, we do need a full transition away from fossil fuels. We also need to remember what that sounds like to people who cannot heat their homes this winter. To people who have never had a full tank in their car. What we need is an energy transition that’s planned and fair. This doesn’t mean compromising on ambition. We could do things even quicker, but without taking control of the…

13

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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European Defence investment programme (EDIP) (debate)

Madam President, more public money for the arms industry – will the billions of euros we give to these warmongers ever be enough? Not according to Jan Pie, Secretary-General of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe. After the EUR 300 million EDIRPA handout in October, Jan doubted whether it would make a tangible difference. He went on to demand that the European defence invest…

13

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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EU strategy to assist young people facing the housing and cost of living crisis (topical debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the EU’s combined GDP for 2023 stood at over EUR 18 trillion. And yet at the same time, home ownership for those aged between 25 and 34 within the European Union stands at its lowest percentage since the establishment of the single market. How can the EU be awash with money when, at the same time, home ownership and affordable housing for young people living within the …

12

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Environmental consequences of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the need for accountability (debate)

Mr President, it is difficult to take your concern for the environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine seriously. There’s only a handful of anti-war people in this room. 80 % of you voted down our amendments calling for increased diplomacy and efforts to bring about peace in Ukraine. How can the same people who voted to pour tens of billions in arms into keeping a NATO proxy war going, now pr…

12

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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European Economic Security Strategy (debate)

Mr President, you want to frame China as a threat to our economic security, yet the US and NATO have just crippled our economy: they stoked the conflict in Ukraine, supported Maidan and fuelled the Donbass war since 2014. Stoltenberg, the NATO boss, came into our committee and boasted about provoking Russia by ignoring their plea for a neutral Ukraine, and it was either the US or Ukraine that seem…

12

Dec

2023

EN Answer

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Need to release all hostages, to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire and prospect of the two-state solution (debate)

You’re calling Israel a democratic state? Let me tell you something, right: democratic states don’t behave like an apartheid state. They don’t commit collective punishment. They do not bomb hospitals, refugee camps and people’s homes. They don’t commit genocide. Israel is not a democratic state. Stop telling that lie. Jews all over the world are horrified at the Zionist State of Israel at the mome…

12

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Need to release all hostages, to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire and prospect of the two-state solution (debate)

Mr President, this debate calls on Hamas to release all hostages. What about Israel, who have been locking up Palestinians like nobody’s business since 7 October? Israel holds over 7 000 political prisoners, 2 000 of which are held in administrative detention without a time limit, without trial, and without committing an offence. They are hostages. The Israelis must also release all Palestinians h…

12

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Defence of democracy package (debate)

Madam President, when Georgia announced the foreign agents law that would compel NGOs to disclose foreign funding, High Representative Borrell was quick to condemn, stating that this law is incompatible with EU values and standards. Conversely, when Commissioner von der Leyen announced a similar law with her defence of democracy package, it was because the law was essential to defend the same EU v…

12

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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European Health Data Space (debate)

Madam President, Article 7 of the regulation will create a legal obligation for doctors to upload a summary of each patient’s treatment to the new data space. There is no provision in the regulation for objections to this rule or a right to object, even when it comes to especially sensitive diseases or therapies. Patients would be able to restrict access to their health records, but not to creatio…

12

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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EU-Taiwan trade and investment relations (debate)

Mr President, the UK agreed a trade partnership with Taiwan last month, upsetting Beijing, who object to any international actions that appear to recognise Taiwan’s sovereignty. Just 13 countries have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, mainly British Commonwealth islands, US military bases moonlighting as sovereign nations, and countries ruled by an overt fascist. Those pushing for the EU …

12

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (debate)

Mr President, the transition to renewables will require a massive increase in levels of extraction. Well, we can significantly limit that increase by reducing absolute resource consumption. The Parliament’s 2021 report on the Circular Economy Action Plan called on the Commission to propose targets to significantly reduce the EU’s material and consumption footprints by 2030 and bring them within pl…

11

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, yet another high-level Ukrainian official has come out to say that NATO blocked Ukraine peace talks. David Arakhamia was a top negotiator for the Ukrainian delegation during the spring 2022 peace talks held in Istanbul. He says Russia was prepared to end the war if Ukraine committed to not joining NATO. But the Western powers weren’t interested, and Boris Johnson flew to Kyiv on 9…

11

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Mental health (short presentation)

Madam President, access to mental healthcare is a human right. Yet in Ireland, more than 4 500 children are on a waiting list for the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service. More than 500 children have been waiting for more than a year, and some have been waiting for more than two years. We’ve had a suicide epidemic in my own county of Wexford for years. Ireland spends just 6% of its total …

11

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Minimum requirements on minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods in the occasional passenger transport sector (short presentation)

Madam President, the European Transport Workers Federation says poor work organisation, difficult working conditions, stress and fatigue due to ineffective brakes, increased workload due to additional tasks and a lack of enforcement are the main causes of driver shortages in the bus and coach sector. The drivers union wants better enforcement of the existing rules and no further flexibility. The e…

11

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Small modular reactors (debate)

Madam President, the promotion of the nuclear industry this report proposes would be a waste of money, and it would do little to address the climate crisis. Small modular reactors do not address the fundamental problems associated with the nuclear industry. They fail to address the persistent nuclear waste problem, and introduce new risks in terms of the proliferation of nuclear materials. They ar…

11

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Role of tax policy in times of crisis (debate)

Madam President, another report watered down by the EPP. In the last two years we have gone from crisis to crisis. COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the resulting cost of living crisis have exasperated pre-existing structural challenges such as climate change, an ageing population and rising inequality. While the vast majority of people struggle to pay their bills, there are those that continue to …

23

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Revised pollinators initiative - a new deal for pollinators (B9-0463/2023)

Madam President, no pollinators means no agriculture. It’s as simple as that. In 2020, the European Court of Auditors found that the first EU pollinators initiative had little effect on the halting of pollinator decline. It’s very hard to have any fate at all in the revised initiative’s ability to halt pollinator decline after what happened in this Chamber yesterday with the Sustainable Use of Pes…

23

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Innovative humanitarian aid strategy: spotlight on current and forgotten crises (A9-0321/2023 - Carlos Zorrinho)

Madam President, this report on humanitarian aid strategy talks about increasing aid, preventive measures on conflict and the climate crisis, and ensuring sanctions do not hinder aid provision. The sad truth is the EU and its allies are barrelling along in the opposite direction. NATO occupied and bombed Afghanistan for 20 years, flooding the place with weapons, then ran away with 7 billion in cen…

23

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Strategic Compass and EU space-based defence capabilities (A9-0334/2023 - Arnaud Danjean)

Madam President, this is not a serious report. It’s reckless and irresponsible in the extreme. I voted against it. The greatest risk to EU space infrastructure is the abundance of space traffic and debris. The solution is to develop, at UN level, an effective framework for the coordination of space situational awareness, and to develop norms and principles for space debris removal. Instead, the re…

23

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Young researchers (debate)

Madam President, the Irish Federation of University Teachers has warned of alarming levels of precarious employment in Irish higher education institutions. Among the 550 academics they surveyed, 36% consider themselves precariously employed. Thousands of workers in third-level institutions in Ireland have non-permanent, temporary or zero-hour contracts, often with no access to benefits such as hol…

23

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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International day for the elimination of violence against women (debate)

Mr President, violence against women is barbaric. Over 3000 women have been violently killed in Gaza in less than 50 days. Israel has unleashed its four horsemen of the apocalypse on the women of Gaza: death, famine, war and conquest. It has given them two choices: leave Gaza or die. More Palestinian women will be killed, not just with bombs and bullets, but from hunger and epidemics. The handful …

22

Nov

2023

EN Answer

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Destruction of judicial independence and the persecution of democrats in Hong Kong (debate)

I have no problem addressing abuses anywhere. And to tell you the truth, I haven’t seen a government I liked anywhere on the planet yet, not even in Ireland. But what is really sickening is the inconsistency in this place. There’s over 5 000 children dead in Gaza. There’s over 3 000 women. It’s a genocide being carried out by a brutal apartheid regime. And this place is supporting the genocide. Th…

22

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Destruction of judicial independence and the persecution of democrats in Hong Kong (debate)

Mr President, do you seriously think this institution has the moral or political authority to shout about breaches of human rights in Hong Kong, or anywhere else for that matter, when the majority of MEPs in here are supporting a genocide in Gaza? Once again, we are carrying out the bidding of NATO hawks. Chinese President Xi Jinping went to the US to work towards thawing relations last week. Why …

21

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

Mr President, this push for a more featherless EU with qualified majority voting is grist to the mill of those who argue the EU is an anti-democratic entity. The people of Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 because of the potential loss of sovereignty, neoliberal reforms and the threat to Ireland’s neutrality. The second referendum saw the treaty accepted because of an intense ‘yes’ campai…