What Billy spoke about.

9 Nov

2023

EN Speech

System of own resources of the European Union (debate)

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Madam President, I have sat here many times and discussed a system of own resources, and each time I have to repeat myself. I am firstly supportive of the EU having own resources. The NextGenerationEU fund was an innovative and essential initiative from the Commission and I strongly supported it. It mobilised over EUR 800 billion to support the EU’s recovery from COVID. But the deterioration of th…

19 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Generational renewal in the EU farms of the future (debate)

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Mr President, almost one third of Irish farm holders are over 65 years of age, Commissioner. It is an ageing demographic across the entirety of the European Union. If we are to guarantee intergenerational transfer, we have to ensure that we have the right policies to underpin it – that’s both at national level and also at European level. So we need to ensure that there is access to land, both in t…

18 Oct

2023

EN Speech

New European innovation agenda (debate)

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Mr President, the green transition and the digital reformation are key opportunities for our innovation in the European Union. Of course, we have been complacent in the past in terms of funding towards innovation, even starting through education, science, technology, engineering and maths in the STEM area, but also in terms of investment in our academic third-level colleges. Any cursory look at th…

18 Oct

2023

EN Speech

A true geopolitical Europe now (topical debate)

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Madam President, this topical debate comes at a very apt point in time. We have seen over the last 11 days that the European Union is failing to live up to its ambitions of being a relevant, political, powerful geopolitical player. Last week’s diplomatic disaster by President von der Leyen and Commissioner Várhelyi demonstrated how ineffective the EU can be on the global stage. They made the Union…

5 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Financial services contracts concluded at a distance (debate)

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Mr President, many more of us interact with our financial service providers, banks, or insurers online. In some instances, we are forced to because branches are closing, there is less personal contact and, in other instances, we are offered more innovative products by new online-only providers. Regardless of the reason, it is essential that consumers have the same protections online as they have o…

4 Oct

2023

EN Answer

The spread of ‘anti-LGBTIQ’ propaganda bills by populist parties and governments in Europe (debate)

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I accept your right and entitlement to cuddle up to whoever you want to in bed, and I expect you to accept that entitlement and right for anybody else in this European Union as well, when they are doing no harm, are consenting adults and are engaged in no illegal activity, something that you consistently try to imply. It is shameful. I respect your rights; respect their rights as well.…

4 Oct

2023

EN Speech

The spread of ‘anti-LGBTIQ’ propaganda bills by populist parties and governments in Europe (debate)

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Mr President, this is a very welcome and timely debate, because fundamental rights, and basic rights, and the rights of the individual, are under attack in the European Union. Since decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland in 1993, the civil partnership in 2010, marriage equality and the passing of the Gender Recognition Act in 2015, Ireland has been transformed as a place for LGBTQI+ communi…

4 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Need to complete new trade agreements for sustainable growth, competitiveness and the EU’s strategic autonomy (debate)

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Madam President, the European Union is a very sophisticated trading economy. It trades globally and is a powerhouse when it comes to economics around the world. Of course, there are changing patterns in global trade: there’s geopolitical changes with regard to the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, China becoming a global powerhouse, India, and many others. But I just want to reference …

4 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Energy Charter Treaty: next steps (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, I welcome the debate. I wish the Council could respond to the demands of the European Parliament, and also to the proposals put forward by the Commission with regard to the withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty. Let us be under no illusions. This was negotiated in 1994. A lot has changed subsequently in terms of our requirements to defossilise, to decarbonise and to ensure tha…

4 Oct

2023

EN Speech

European green bonds (debate)

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Mr President, I’d like to congratulate everybody involved in this file and particularly the chief rapporteur, Paul Tang. I would just say at the outset, we need to have integrity in our green bond system, and I think the European Union should become the global capital of sustainable finance. Of course, this particular taxonomy got off to a very fractious start, when there was great debate about nu…

4 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Decent Housing for All (topical debate)

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Madam President, home ownership is a key component of a stable society. In Ireland, we have struggled to enable this reality for years. The private sector is struggling to build homes at sustainable prices for would-be homeowners. Central to this failure is the high cost of borrowing for builders and developers. Irish banks are highly reluctant to lend and are effectively saving schemes now in Ire…

3 Oct

2023

EN Speech

The 10th consecutive increase in reference interest rates decided by the ECB and its consequences (debate)

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Mr President, after ten consecutive rate rises, bringing us to a 4% ECB interest rate, we have seen inflation drop to 4.3%. Of course, the ECB will claim that that is supportive of its policies of raising interest rates. Commissioner, you also said that inflation is the enemy of the poor and those on low incomes, but equally high interest rates cause recessions and recessions bring about unemploym…

3 Oct

2023

EN Speech

European Media Freedom Act (debate)

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(start of speech off mike) […] the European Media Freedom Act. We have to ensure and protect the integrity of journalism and the media profession itself. Not every government is a benign one that will allow media to flourish, to be plural and to be diverse. We have seen that in Europe – the rolling back of civil rights, of fundamental rights in certain areas. That also means the rolling back of th…

3 Oct

2023

EN Speech

Interim report on the proposal for a mid-term revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 (debate)

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Madam President, I welcome the multiannual financial framework review and to say at the very outset I welcome the commitments to Ukraine in terms of its support in loans and grants for the short, medium and longer term. There is no doubt, when you look at what is happening with regard to the war of aggression by Russia, that it is creating a humanitarian catastrophe in eastern Ukraine. It is also …

12 Jul

2023

EN Speech

State of the SME Union (debate)

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Mr President, it is often said that SMEs are the backbone of the European economy. They represent 99% of all businesses in Europe. They should be described as the entire skeleton – it would be a better analogy. And so we must protect them and strengthen them. The SME union is a crucial strategy that has been making good progress since inception, and it has cemented SMS as a key consideration in th…

12 Jul

2023

EN Speech

Tax the rich (topical debate)

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Madam President, with the title of this debate, ‘Tax the rich’, we risk veering into a purely ideological debate, but we should be practical about this, and let’s be very logical. Last week, the Commission published its annual report on taxation, which shows a huge overreliance on labour taxes as a source of revenue. Labour taxes generated over 51 % of all revenue. Not only is this very unfair and…

12 Jul

2023

EN Speech

The need for EU action on search and rescue in the Mediterranean (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, the 2019 vote in this Parliament is a stain on us all. I was complicit in that stain because I was not present to vote on that day. Since then, thousands more people have died in the Mediterranean. How much longer must we exempt ourselves from our responsibilities to ensure that we have the basics of search and rescue available to people who are drowning in the Mediterranean? Just…

11 Jul

2023

EN Speech

Financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2022 - Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2022 (joint debate - European Investment Bank)

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Mr President, I’d like to welcome Mr Hoyer here and acknowledge the work that he’s done as a lead in the European Investment Bank and just say that some years ago I did meet him in Frankfurt at a Renew discussion group, when he spoke about the bundling of schools in Ireland with the Minister for Finance at the time, Michael Noonan. Mr Hoyer, I see that again today you recently announced, along wit…

10 Jul

2023

EN Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Madam President, at present, the European Commission is examining the continuation of Ireland’s derogation concerning the Nitrates Directive. Recently, a water quality survey was published by Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency and it shows that despite the major increase in the dairy sector and production in Ireland since 2016, water quality has not generally diminished. The Irish Governmen…

10 Jul

2023

EN Speech

Banking Union – annual report 2022 (short presentation)

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Madam President, we must continue to ensure the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union are a priority of this Commission and the Parliament and the Council. And as we see interest rate rises across Europe, we have to ensure that we have mechanisms in place to give confidence to consumers and those that have deposits in banks. We also need to put a macro—prudential framework in place to ensure…

14 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Lessons learnt from the Pandora Papers and other revelations (debate)

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Madam President, I want to commend the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists who exposed the Pandora Papers, and many other areas of tax evasion and aggressive tax planning that have taken place over the last ten years. Multiple billions are not going to where they should be in terms of investment in public services right across the globe, and particularly in countries that have ve…

14 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Make Europe the place to invest (debate)

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Madam President, Council, Commission, we simply can’t just legislate and regulate ourselves to be an attractive place. We need to invest and create the right conditions, both in terms of infrastructure, but also a key area where we are far behind any global comparative index in terms of education, universities, research and innovation. And it is a key failing of policies for many, many years that …

13 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Humanitarian and environmental consequences of the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam - Sustainable reconstruction and integration of Ukraine into the Euro-Atlantic community (debate)

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Mr President, Nova Kakhovka dam is just an indication of what has been happening since 24 February 2022, when Russia invaded, and an illegal occupation, since when there have been catastrophic accounts of destruction, of targeting civilians, of mass graves, of butchering, of pillage and of rape. So the idea that we could even be surprised that Putin and his cronies and the Russian army would blow …

1 Jun

2023

EN Speech

Coordinated action to address antimicrobial resistance (debate)

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Madam President, I welcome the urgency with which this issue is now being dealt with, and I welcome the fact that it was part and parcel of the pharmaceutical strategy in terms of combating antimicrobial resistance and the ‘one health’ approach. As referenced, it is a silent killer: 35 000 people approximately die every year in the European Union. That number is rising. There are 700 000 infection…

10 May

2023

EN Speech

Fighting cyberbullying of young people across the EU (debate)

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Mr President, we confer rights on citizens in terms of free movement of people, we confer rights on people with regard to the single market and business, but at this stage we do have to do something, Commissioner, with regard to conferring rights on young children and teenagers around the issue of cyberbullying and online bullying. I don’t come to this podium with any answers, but I certainly come…