What Billy spoke about.

10 May

2023

EN Speech

The role of farmers as enablers of the green transition and a resilient agricultural sector (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, the Nature Restoration Law is a one-size-fits-all for the entire European continent, where there’s huge differences in diversity, agricultural practices, soil types and topography and cultures. And there’s been no impact assessment carried out whatsoever in the Nature Restoration Law. We are asking farmers, landowners and the entire society to buy into something that can fundamentall…

9 May

2023

EN Speech

Revision of the Stability and Growth Pact (debate)

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Mr President, I welcome the economic governance rules published by the Commission and I welcome the debate that will happen over the next period of time. I have been calling for some time for us to be flexible in our approach around the issue of unwinding from the emergency support packages that were put in place during the financial crisis and then the COVID crisis itself. We simply have to accep…

19 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Keeping people healthy, water drinkable and soil liveable: getting rid of forever pollutants and strengthening EU chemical legislation now (topical debate)

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Madam President, forever pollutants, PFAS toxins are a real concern both to people and our environment. And it is time now that the Commission, in terms of its review of REACH, should strengthen legislation to deal with this particular issue. Not just in terms of strengthening legislation itself, but we also need to expand our capacity around evidence, around science, testing, sampling and analysi…

18 Apr

2023

EN Speech

Energy storage (debate)

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Madam President, energy security comes from the guarantee that we can produce enough in the European Union, but equally that we can store it as well. When we look at our move towards renewables, we have to ensure that in terms of production of electricity, we also have the ability to store electricity in other forms of energy, and that requires a lot of investment in innovation and creating new te…

29 Mar

2023

EN Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Mr President, a water quality review is presently being carried out in Ireland in terms of the Nitrates Directive and the assessment of the derogation whether or not we are reaching our aims under the water quality framework. Of course, in assessing water quality, we also have to take into account a period of time that will be required to allow the mitigating circumstances that have been put in pl…

16 Mar

2023

EN Speech

Long term commitment to animal welfare (debate)

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I sat on that Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport and we have made our report and our recommendations. I believe that we can improve animal welfare standards during transport. Technologies are there, and they should be part of that process. But, overall, enforcement is where we need to take it to ensure that animals are protected during transport. But transport is a …

16 Mar

2023

EN Speech

Long term commitment to animal welfare (debate)

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Mr President, I welcome the comments of the Commissioner and the reviews that are being carried out by the Commission into the issue of animal welfare in the area of housing, transport and slaughter. Of course, we have regulations already, but we have simply failed to ensure that they were enforced across Member States, so any regulations that we bring forward in terms of the review must have Memb…

14 Mar

2023

EN Speech

Deterioration of democracy in Israel and consequences on the occupied territories (debate)

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Mr President, Israeli judicial reforms that are proposed are regrettable, but regardless of the democratic makeup of the state itself, Israel has consistently crushed and systematically dismantled the Palestinian State. And when people talk about the rule of law in Israel, let’s be honest, there is no rule of law. It has consistently flouted international law, Mr Borrell – and we have done nothing…

14 Mar

2023

GA Speech

European Semester for economic policy coordination 2023 - European Semester for economic policy coordination: Employment and social priorities for 2023 (debate)

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Mr President, The latest forecast states that Europe has almost been hit by a recession, that inflation has peaked, and that economic growth is expected. Last week, the Commission announced that the EU economy is back at pre-pandemic level, and that the general escape clause can be lifted at the end of the year. It has been a tough period for the past few years. I am pleased that the EU has taken …

16 Feb

2023

EN Speech

Availability of fertilisers in the EU (debate)

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Madam President, we are now facing into an unsustainable cycle of high input costs in terms of food production, and clearly, Commissioner, we have to have an immediate strategy to reduce input costs. We’re now facing another planting season where the prices of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash are exceptionally high and will lead to two things. First and foremost, potential risks to food supply, but…

15 Feb

2023

EN Speech

European Central Bank - annual report 2022 (debate)

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Madam President, I welcome the fact that we respect the independence of the ECB in this House. That’s good to hear again and to be reinforced by most political groupings. I just want to reference a couple of challenges that I see very close at hand that we have to address both in this House, but also in terms of the Council, the Commission and even the observations of the ECB, and that is the unwi…

14 Feb

2023

EN Speech

Establishment of an independent EU Ethics Body (debate)

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Mr President, the European Parliament is rightly under the spotlight. Members of this House have brought shame to this institution. Their actions have diminished our standing in front of those we seek to represent. While those who engage in disgraceful behaviour are few in number, they have left a trail of destruction and suspicion in their wake. We collectively as a body must act. It is essential…

18 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Small-scale fisheries situation in the EU and future perspectives (debate)

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Madam President, I welcome this report and in particular the call for additional support and policy changes for small—scale fishers. This is incredibly, incredibly important to maintain their viability and they play a huge role in coastal communities across the European Union. Speaking of additional support and viability, I want to implore the EU Commission and Member States not to ignore the need…

18 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Terrorist threats posed by far-right extremist networks defying the democratic constitutional order (debate)

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Madam President, the playbook from the extreme right is the same time and time again: take a group of people, isolate them, dehumanise them and debase them to the point where other people start thinking that they are not human. We’ve seen this time and time again. I’d like to quote from a former MEP and Nobel Peace laureate, John Hume, who brought peace to the island of Ireland, and I quote, ‘Diff…

18 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Protection of the EU’s financial interests - combating fraud - annual report 2021 (debate)

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Madam President, I welcome the report. The EU and Member States share responsibility in many aspects of this particular report. The EU Member States’ authorities manage the largest share of EU expenditure and collection of own resources. The recovery and resilience fund over the next number of years will inject EUR 1.8 trillion into the European economy in supports and grants. There are certainly …

18 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2021 (debate)

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Madam President, having spoken previously in this House on the European Investment Bank annual reports, I was often critical when we were speaking about fraud issues and non-protection of whistleblowers. But reading this report and looking at what has been achieved in recent times, particularly guiding ourselves through the COVID pandemic and the impact that that was having on real economies, real…

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

The establishment of a tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes of aggression – unfortunately, there’s no shortage of those crimes in Ukraine as I speak here tonight. Having witnessed Bucha and the shallow graves for young men were bound and shot in the back of the head, meeting women who had been violently raped in their homes by Russian soldiers as they retreated from Kyiv last April, and seeing fi…

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

The EU’s response to the appalling attack against civilians in Dnipro : strengthening sanctions against the Putin regime and military support to Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka, Mariupol and now Dnipro – Russia is a state terrorist and the Wagner Group are terrorists as well. And it is time that we accept, not just in this Parliament but across the entire European Union, that we are dealing with an aggressor of appalling brutality and sanctions have to be brought forward swiftly and rapidly. We are in a situation where we are sti…

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Question Time (Commission) - Food price inflation in Europe

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Would the Commissioner not agree that we should base all our policies on concrete data and on scientific evidence? And we have to move beyond hope. We have to make decisions knowing the potential outcome and impact that those decisions will have. And our production capacity, our competitiveness, our import costs and, ultimately, the cost to consumers will increase. Will increase – we know that def…

17 Jan

2023

EN Speech

Question Time (Commission) - Food price inflation in Europe

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Food inflation is 18%; input costs to farmers are running at 24%. Inflation is having a significant impact on lower-income families across Europe and is now having a significant impact on farmers being able to produce food itself. So I ask the Commission: first and foremost, what is it going to do in terms of addressing the input costs, primarily fertiliser, and other commodity costs, like protein…

14 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)

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Mr President, let’s be clear and honest: what we are discussing here today is the abuses of national vetoes, the use of the veto in a manner that is malicious and spiteful, that does not consider the proposal on its merits, but instead uses it as a pawn in a larger political game. This is against the spirit of the Treaties and undermines the genuine arguments for sovereignty and the purpose of una…

14 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Tackle the cost of living crisis: increase pay, tax profits, stop speculation (topical debate)

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Madam President, with temperatures plummeting across Europe this week the cost of keeping warm is very much at the forefront of our minds. We need to take fast and meaningful action to protect the most vulnerable in our societies and make sure no one has to make the choice between heating and eating. The EU acted decisively when imposing a tax on excessive profits of energy companies, and there sh…

13 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Prospects for the two-State solution for Israel and Palestine (debate)

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Mr President, (start of speech off mic) sustainable, permanent cease-fire, the lifting of the blockade in Gaza and the establishment of a two-State solution based on the 1967 borders. But let’s be very clear; while we talk, Israel is systematically dismantling Palestine. If you look at any map from Jenin in the north to Hebron in the south, there is no longer a contiguous, functioning Palestinian …

13 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Renewable Energy, Energy Performance of Buildings and Energy Efficiency Directives: amendments (REPowerEU) (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, (start of speech off mic) ... renewables is urgent for many, many reasons: the war in Ukraine and our dependence on fossil fuels from Russia, and the long-term aim of ensuring that our planet survives. From that perspective, it would be a shame if it was the failure of public administrations in Member States across the European Union to implement and allow permitting and planning …

12 Dec

2022

EN Speech

One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

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Madam President, a total of 187 medicines used by Irish patients are currently in shortage or out of stock, according to the list maintained by the Health Products Regulatory Authority, including 11 that feature on the World Health Organisation’s critical medicines list. This is a very serious issue for doctors and pharmacies, but above all else for the people who depend on these medicines. One of…