What Grace spoke about.

22

Apr

2024

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, colleagues, the Green Deal is under attack and we must defend it. The draft EU strategic agenda has completely dropped environmental protection and climate action from Europe’s plans for the next five years. The European Green Deal is gone – nowhere to be found in the draft plans. So right at the moment when we need more ambition on climate action and environmental protection, we are…

22

Apr

2024

EN Speech

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Prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market (debate)

Madam President, when we think of forced labour and slavery, we might naturally think that these awful practices are long gone, unacceptable relics of the past with no place in the modern world. Unfortunately, we know this is not the case. It is estimated that around 50 million people around the world are living in modern slavery at any given time, and of these, over 27 million are trapped in forc…

22

Apr

2024

EN Speech

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Preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution (debate)

Madam President, an estimated 230 000 tonnes of plastic pellets are spilled into our oceans every year. These tiny, durable objects can end up anywhere and are increasingly found in every marine habitat. This is devastating to vulnerable ecosystems, but also to human health. As these beads make their way up the food chain to us. So we must do more to protect our marine environment and prevent this…

10

Apr

2024

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, farmers are angry, and vested interests want you to believe that the blame for the current agricultural crisis is on the Green Deal. Well, don’t let those vested interests pull the wool over your eyes. Because despite protests and controversy, what have I told you? That 2023 was a record year for agri-business in the EU. Never before has Europe exported more produce by volume or valu…

13

Mar

2024

EN Speech

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The immediate risk of mass starvation in Gaza and the attacks on humanitarian aid deliveries

Mr President, I received this direct message from a father in Gaza today: ‘Here, people are experiencing a real famine. There is no healthy food, no water, and no electricity to filter the water. There are women and children humiliated under the rubble of their destroyed homes. The smell of decomposing corpses has begun to spread throughout the streets, and there is a major shortage of medical equ…

12

Mar

2024

EN Speech

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EU climate risk assessment, taking urgent action to improve security and resilience in Europe (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, extreme heat, drought, wildfires and flooding are going to get worse. Even under the most optimistic scenarios, the warnings in the European Environment Agency’s climate risk assessment report published this week are stark. The report has been described as the last wake-up call. Are we going to listen? As climate breakdown accelerates and the risks build, the political…

7

Feb

2024

EN Speech

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The EU priorities for the 68th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (debate)

Mr President, the Irish Constitution puts the Irish woman’s place in society in the home. It warns women against the neglect of their duties. Ireland has often been a hostile place for women who did not fit this mould. Women were told they were wayward and they were hidden away in laundries and institutions. But Irish women have never accepted the mould of conservative society. Women like Grace O’…

18

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Recent ecological catastrophe involving plastic pellet losses and its impact on micro plastic pollution in the maritime and coastal habitats (debate)

Mr President, this, my friends, is an oil spill by another name: the spilling of millions of plastic pellets into the sea off Galicia is a crime. It should be considered as serious as the oil tanker Prestige spill off the coast of Galicia in 2002, or the many other hundreds of environmental disasters we have become familiar with in this plastic age. Unlike the transport of materials like crude oil…

15

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, millions have taken to the streets in Ireland and all over the world in solidarity with the people of Gaza, but here, in the European Parliament and across the EU, we see nothing but hypocrisy. We are supposed to stand for human dignity, but where is the dignity in allowing strike after strike on innocent children? We debate European values of peace and democracy, while European coun…

14

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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

Mr President, colleagues, global warming is accelerating at speed. The ocean heatwave in the Atlantic this summer saw seawater temperatures five degrees hotter than usual. When I sailed into Antarctica in the 1980s, the great glaciers were already receding. We knew climate change was coming, and the dinosaurs in the oil companies knew too. Meanwhile, over in Dubai, those same dinosaurs are keen to…

13

Dec

2023

EN Speech

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Frontex, building on the fact-finding investigation of the LIBE Working Group for Frontex Scrutiny (debate)

Mr President, this Christmas it seems there is no room at the inn for the meek, the hungry or the persecuted. The EU’s border force, Frontex, has made sure of it. Just this week we heard that Frontex is working directly with militia in Libya to keep refugees in the Mediterranean out of Europe and out of safety. With taxpayers’ funding, Frontex is complicit in unthinkable violence. Frontex’s role i…

22

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need for the release of hostages and for an immediate humanitarian truce leading to a ceasefire and the prospects for peace and security in the Middle East (debate)

Mr President, people all over the world are asking, ‘What can we do to stop a war that has taken 5 000 children from their mothers, and has left an entire generation traumatised, while the families of hostages now hold their breath to hear if loved ones will be released?’ EU leaders have entirely failed to give an answer to that question, ‘What can we do?’ You have failed to call for a ceasefire. …

21

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Packaging and packaging waste (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, it shouldn’t be a surprise to you that the junk food barons are not a reliable source of environmental advice, that lobbyists for plastic corporations are not authorities on sustainability. Yet, here we are, debating whether we should or should not tackle the mountain of packaging waste piling up in our towns and cities, all because of the corporate embrace of throwawa…

19

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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Composition of political groups

Madam President, in accordance with Rule 154 and the President’s right to convene Parliament, I move that it is incumbent on the President to call upon the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, to address this House in relation to the recent bombing of Gaza and his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East.…

16

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President. This month, my team and I were looking towards something very special – a photo exhibition showing the powerful connection between a community and the sea. This is something that resonates deeply with the Irish people. We set out to find photographers who could capture this – children playing on the beach, fishermen heading out to sea, mothers preparing for the holidays. However, …

16

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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Fisheries control (debate)

Madam President, good evening colleagues, and firstly, congratulations to Madam Rapporteur Clara Aguilera, for her diplomacy and her leadership in getting this fisheries control over the line. So this summer we had an unheard of marine heatwave off the coast of Europe. Plastic pollution in the ocean is getting worse and worse. Meanwhile, overfishing remains so rife that almost half of Atlantic spe…

4

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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The proposed extension of glyphosate in the EU (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, you have been poisoned. According to the science, anywhere from 25 to 80% of us has the weedkiller Roundup in our bodies, without our knowledge and without our consent. Study after study has described Monsanto and Bayer’s weedkiller as chronically toxic, probably carcinogenic, linked to liver cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and likely to kill 93% of endang…

12

Sep

2023

EN Speech

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Ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (debate)

Madam President, it wasn’t long ago that in Cork City you would often see thick layers of dirty smog settling down on the river Lee. We recognised the need to end burning of fossil fuels to protect our health. Poor air quality is a health problem. It is a climate problem, but it is also a problem of inequality. The poorest neighbourhoods suffer the worst air pollution, though they pollute the leas…

12

Jul

2023

EN Speech

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Delivering on the Green Deal: risk of compromising the EU path to the green transition and its international commitments (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, there has never been a more significant moment for this House. Today we approved a historic Nature Restoration Law and, with this law, we can protect our oceans, restore our peatlands, and we can make our towns and cities more liveable and healthy places for people and for nature. In the meantime, we must reflect on the campaign that has been waged in this House agains…

10

Jul

2023

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Madam President, 38 years ago, French Secret Service agents bombed the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior. An explosion ripped through the hull of our ship while it was moored in New Zealand, ahead of a protest against nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific. It was an act of terror, which killed my friend Fernando Pereira. The series of events that the French state set in motion with the bombing …

14

Jun

2023

EN Speech

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Implementation and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, this could be the most significant week in our time as political leaders. We decide whether to pursue sustainable development and nature restoration or continue down the path of exploiting nature without considering the consequences for food safety, for climate, for biodiversity, for our health and well-being. This report on the Sustainable Development Goals that we di…

31

May

2023

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, today I will talk about disabilities and travel. Last week, Carolyn Akintola travelled from Ireland to Brussels to campaign on behalf of people with disabilities. Despite pre-booking and notifying Ryanair of her needs, her wheelchair was taken from her. Carolyn was subjected to a degrading search, and when this caused a delay, the captain of the flight told over 100 passengers it was…

11

May

2023

EN Speech

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Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries - Agreement of the IGC on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (High Seas Treaty) (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Sinkevičius, colleagues, Ireland’s Marine Institute this month released a report on ocean climate. The findings of this report should jolt MEPs into immediate climate action. More than 90% of the excess heat we humans create is soaked up by the oceans. We have reached the limit of how much the oceans can take. Every piece of plastic produced and discarded, every carbon-r…

20

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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IPCC report on Climate Change: a call for urgent additional action (debate)

Mr President, colleagues, the ability to spin in this room is astounding. So this morning we’ve heard a stream of political leaders taking the stand, all calling for urgent action on climate change and biodiversity loss. Yet in the Agricultural Committee basic legislation to cut pesticide use and save pollinators is blocked at every turn, in the Fisheries Committee there’s pushback against the ide…

19

Apr

2023

EN Speech

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

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, plastic has become so cheap to produce, it has invaded every part of our lives, our seas, our soils, our environment. We now have a plastic waste problem so massive that everyone except those responsible for it has to pay to clean it up. Similarly, when so-called PFAS chemicals were discovered, industry started using them in absolutely everything. It does…