What Barry spoke about.

21

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Recent peace agreement in the Middle East and the role of the EU (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner and colleagues, peace is not just the absence of war. A true peace delivers justice, freedom and accountability. A true peace – as we know in Ireland – takes decades of patience, of careful nurturing, of reconciliation and investment. It's notable that the decommissioning of arms by terrorists in Ireland took more than a decade after the 1998 peace agreement. Last mon…

7

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan: supporting women and communities affected by the recent earthquakes (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the reality is that we have seen the cost of aid cuts in real time in Afghanistan at the beginning of this month and the country that has done most to impoverish Afghanistan – the United States – is responsible for the massive reduction in aid support. Back in 2022, EUR 3.5 billion were distributed in aid in Afghanistan. This year, it is just EUR 750 million…

7

Oct

2025

EN Speech

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The EU’s role in supporting the recent peace efforts for Gaza and a two-state solution (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, 7 October must be repeatedly and unambiguously condemned. I wish to share my sympathy with the bereaved families, with the injured and those taken hostage. The response that followed, aimed at wiping out Hamas, soon warped into a policy of regional vandalism, bombing and occupying neighbours, thrilling in the awesome power of it all, seemingly possessed of a…

9

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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Gaza at breaking point: EU action to combat famine, the urgent need to release hostages and move towards a two-state solution (debate)

Madam President, High Representative and colleagues, last month, Major General Haliva of the IDF said that for every one person killed on 7 October, 50 Palestinians must die. A leak from the IDF last month also revealed a civilian death rate of 83%. International humanitarian law is clear: civilians must never be a target of war. This is something that used to bother Israel. Back in 2002, the head…

8

Sep

2025

EN Speech

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One-minute speeches on matters of political importance

Mr President, colleagues, Cognyte Technologies is a spyware company that has been used to target journalists, politicians and minority groups across the world. The Norwegian Government Pension Fund recommended back in 2022 not to invest in Cognyte for ethical reasons associated with human rights violations. However, last week, we learned in The Irish Times that the Irish police force, the Gardai, …

9

Jul

2025

EN Speech

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Case of Ryan Cornelius in Dubai

Mr President, Commissioner and colleagues, like other speakers, I came to this issue through the work of Sir Bill Browder. His endorsement of the cause of Ryan Cornelius was very persuasive by itself, given Mr Browder's track record with the Magnitsky legislation, but when I looked at the detail of the case, I was astonished at the injustice of it. The EU and this Parliament should be clear that c…

9

Jul

2025

EN Speech

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Outcome of the Conference on the Financing for Development in Seville (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister and colleagues, last week, The Lancet, one of the world's most credible medical journals, published the results of a study into the consequences, as they see it, of US disengagement from overseas development assistance. Their report concluded that US aid disengagement is going to result in an additional 14 million deaths by 2030. We can conclude, even if we bel…

8

Jul

2025

EN Speech

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Situation in the Middle East (debate)

Madam President, Minister, Commissioner and colleagues, yesterday we bore witness to the very grotesque image of Benjamin Netanyahu presenting Donald Trump with his nomination papers for the Nobel Peace Prize. The words that come to mind are 'beyond parody', 'beyond ridicule', 'perversity', 'incomprehensible' – because on the same day, Israel Katz, the Minister for Defence, proposes to move Gazans…

18

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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Rise in violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis in South Sudan (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, I've been to South Sudan a couple of times and it's really striking: the inaccessibility and remoteness of the country, areas with no paved roads about the size of Belgium. It's really quite an extraordinary place. And it's great that we're having this debate, but we have to be realistic, and we're having this debate in the context of US withdrawal – this…

18

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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Electricity grids: the backbone of the EU energy system (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner and colleagues, wind now supplies a third of Ireland's electricity, and by 2030 we might be able to exceed domestic demand and be able to provide up to 2.5 % of Europe's electricity needs by 2050. But all of this depends on significant investment in our grids and robust adherence to planning timeframes. According to the Draghi report, it can take three years for the most…

18

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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Stopping the genocide in Gaza: time for EU sanctions (topical debate)

Madam President, High Representative, colleagues, the highest court in the world, by an overwhelming majority ordered Israel to refrain from acts that could fall under certain articles of the Genocide Convention. Israel were further ordered to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Instead, in the week that followed, a thousand people were killed in Gaza. From March to May of…

17

Jun

2025

EN Speech

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Situation in the Middle East (joint debate)

Mr President, High Representative, colleagues, we really live in a strange world. The EU isn't sure whether Israel's murderous attacks on Gaza meet the threshold for a review of the human rights article of the Association Agreement. But many leaders in the EU are sure that Iran's behaviour meets the threshold for a pre‑emptive strike, even while negotiations on non‑proliferation are going on. Unfo…

21

May

2025

EN Speech

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The EU's response to the Israeli government's plan to seize the Gaza Strip, ensuring effective humanitarian support and the liberation of hostages (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner and colleagues, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he is engaged in a war of civilisation over barbarism. But the civilised world has concluded that it is the IDF that are conducting a campaign of barbarism. A majority of European countries have finally concluded that it is barbaric to use starvation as a weapon of war. That it is barbaric that Minister Smotrich is de…

6

May

2025

EN Speech

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A revamped long-term budget for the Union in a changing world (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner and colleagues, I speak on behalf of the Development Committee and share my view that a balanced foreign policy requires investment not just in defence, but also in diplomacy and in development, because without human development and sustainable development, we risk instability in our neighbourhood, we risk extremism, we risk insecurity, and of course, we risk irregula…

5

May

2025

EN Speech

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Preparation of the EU-UK summit (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, I made my very first speech in the hemicycle in February 2020, and I called on the Commission to treat the UK not as a rival but as a partner. Given that we had two more years of Boris Johnson to deal with, that was probably a tall order. But, I believe, together with the voices of so many Members today in this debate, that we need to go even beyond partn…

1

Apr

2025

EN Speech

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Dramatic situation in Gaza and the need for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement (debate)

Madam President, High Representative, just when you think it couldn't get any worse, you see the scenes coming out of Rafah this week. I think it's fair to say that most of us were absolutely stunned at the images. We know how hostile the IDF is towards UNWRA. We know how dangerous it is to deliver aid in Gaza, and we know how little respect there is for international humanitarian law. Targeting t…

1

Apr

2025

EN Speech

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Human rights and democracy in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter – annual report 2024 (debate)

Madam President, High Representative Kallas, 193 member states have signed the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And yet, as the rapporteur pointed out in her opening remarks, human rights is in retreat. Everywhere, human rights defenders are under siege, and this report seeks to position the European Union at the centre of the defence of human rights, not just because it's the right thing…

12

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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Severe political, humanitarian and human rights crisis in Sudan, in particular the sexual violence and child rape

Mr President, Commissioner Jørgensen, colleagues, we're having this debate about the tragedy in Sudan at a time when we're dismantling the tools that we would otherwise use to address this issue. We're having it at a time when USAID has been decapitated by the US Government, when the UK has reduced its overseas aid from 0.7 % of GNI a few years ago down to 0.5 % and now to 0.3 %. But the reality i…

12

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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Frozen Russian assets (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner Hansen, I want to add my voice of support to the argument for the use of immobilised Russian assets for Ukraine. At the very least, we should assert the legal right to seize those assets and apply them to the reconstruction of Ukraine. I have to say, I find it very hard to take seriously the sovereign right argument made by Russia and its sympathisers, in circumstances w…

11

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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Deteriorating situation in Gaza following the non-extension of the ceasefire (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, first of all, I welcome your endorsement of UNRWA. When I visited Rafah a year ago, Israel was blockading humanitarian access. The excuse given at that time was that UN agencies were disorganised, could not be relied upon, or that humanitarian items could be used for military purposes. Israel has shut off electricity and aid again, but on this occasion, it is so embo…

11

Mar

2025

EN Speech

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The need for EU support towards a just transition and reconstruction in Syria (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the path to a sustainable peace in Syria will, of course, not be a straight one. We all know that. But there are positive signs. We saw yesterday's announcement in relation to the SDF and the government, and that is very, very welcome. However, the horrific violence in the coastal area must not go unpunished, and making sure that there is transitional jus…

12

Feb

2025

EN Speech

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US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organisation and the suspension of US development and humanitarian aid (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the decision to suspend USAID is consistent with the public policy vandalism that has characterised the beginning of the Trump administration and applauded by autocrats around the world. And it is Afghan women. It is Ukrainian soldiers. It is hungry people in DRC, in Sudan and Yemen that will suffer. But before we get on our high horse, let us not forget …

22

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Failure of the negotiations in Busan for a UN plastic treaty and the urgent need to tackle plastic pollution at international and Union level (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner and colleagues, we have heard from our colleagues already during the course of this debate about the extent of the problem and indeed, on a business as usual basis, plastic production is estimated to increase by 70 % by 2040. So the urgency for this negotiation on this treaty could not be greater. We have seen as well in this debate the conflict between the diverging …

21

Jan

2025

EN Speech

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Humanitarian crisis in Sudan (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, yesterday President Trump signed an executive order and he said that no further US aid would be disbursed unless it could be demonstrated to align with American interests. Now, the European Union's development policy is heading in that direction. We have a geopolitical direction for the disbursement of aid and development aid, and that is becoming a central policy of th…

17

Dec

2024

EN Speech

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Use of rape as weapon of war, in particular in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan (debate)

Madam President, Ms Kallas, colleagues, just this morning, I met women peace activists from Israel and Palestine, both of whom emphasised the importance of UN Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. It's often said that truth is the first victim of war, when in reality women and children are the first victims. The conflict in Sudan has been marked by grave violations of international humanit…