What Colm spoke about.

18

Jan

2024

EN Speech

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Implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy and future perspectives (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the common fisheries policy aims to support fishing communities, sustain fishing stocks, protect the environment and ensure fair distribution of opportunities across the EU. The common fisheries policy is fair for some, but not for all: 85% of the fish that’s taken out of Irish waters is taken by countries other than Ireland, with Ireland getting 1…

20

Nov

2023

EN Speech

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Union certification framework for carbon removals

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, I’d like to thank the rapporteur, Lídia Pereira, and the agricultural opinion rapporteur, Martin Hlaváček, for what has been a very effective process. It represents a win-win, good for the environment and good for agriculture and carbon farming, with the potential to lock carbon into our soils, deliver on carbon capture, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prom…

19

Oct

2023

EN Speech

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

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, agriculture, like many sectors, faces numerous challenges: food security, being sustainable, providing for the energy of the future. The people best placed to embrace all these challenges are the new generation. Yet for every farmer under 40, there are 3 farmers over 65: this quite simply is not sustainable. We have to invest in the next generation…

13

Jun

2023

EN Speech

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Ensuring food security and the long-term resilience of EU agriculture (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, fellow MEPs, I’d like to begin by thanking the rapporteur, Marlene Mortler, for the comprehensive report and the way it has dealt with the many important issues. We ask our farmers to deliver on food security, traceability and food quality, along with the like of renewable energies, forestry and being custodians of our environment and biodiversity. And what do we giv…

12

Jun

2023

EN Speech

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Large transport infrastructure projects in the EU (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, fellow MEPs, I would like to begin by thanking the rapporteur, Andrey Novakov, my colleague, for the good work he has done on this report. And also I am delighted to have the chance to input as the rapporteur on the transport opinion. There are a number of key issues that have been identified through this report and indeed they have also been identified by a Court of Au…

10

May

2023

EN Speech

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

Mr President, and in particular Commissioner McGuinness, you’ve always had a great understanding of the issues in agriculture and it’s great to have you here today. However, one has to ask the question: where is the agricultural Commissioner? And where is the practical input that is sorely missing from this debate? Farmers fully accept that there is a biodiversity and indeed an environmental crisi…

16

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Availability of fertilisers in the EU (debate)

Mr President, I wish to thank the Commissioner for coming here today to discuss this very important issue. We all see how food prices across Europe have increased enormously over the last number of months, and the key component to all that is the cost of inputs at farm level, and key to that is fertiliser. Two key driving factors that drove the cost of fertiliser are the lack of imports due to the…

18

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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

Madam President, Commissioner, I would like to welcome this new report on small-scale fisheries. They play an enormous role in our local communities: they employ local crews; they multiply what they bring into the economy through selling seafood in the local restaurants; they enhance tourism and preserve a culture and a tradition that is very important. They’ve faced many challenges in recent year…

17

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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Question Time (Commission) - Food price inflation in Europe

Mr President, Commissioner, to quote your own words in relation to what are you doing in is, ‘I keep talking about it’. That’s the translation that came to me. Surely the money you talk about – the 500 million crisis reserve fund – that is part of the existing budget. My question is, what additional money and what new efforts have been made? First with regard to providing additional money, but equ…

17

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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Question Time (Commission) - Food price inflation in Europe

We’ve all seen from the last year just how vulnerable our food supply is and how vulnerable food security is and how it has impacted on so many people. Well, I’ve listened to the figures you’ve given us here today where less than point 4% of GDP is spent on food production and only 500 million of a crisis reserve. Well, if you divide that out by 10 million farmers, that’s less than EUR 50 per farm…

12

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Addressing persistent challenges in the aviation sector and the impacts on passengers, workers, capacity and safety (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we’re all very concerned about the overloaded nature of our main airports. Everybody in this Chamber has experienced in the last 12 months the endless delays and the frustration coming through airports due to staff shortages and various other issues. A previous speaker suggested that the COVID issues had passed. Well today I spent five hours sit…

12

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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A long-term vision for the EU's rural areas (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, for too long rural areas have been left behind, with our best talent moving away for education and employment opportunities. For the first time we have a chance to turn this around. We can embrace a new generation of opportunities, whether it’s remote working that can bring highly skilled people back into rural areas and let them rear a family a…

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Global food security as follow-up to the G20 Agriculture Ministers meeting (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, fellow Members, we’ve all seen the dramatic increase in food prices. Unfortunately for some, increased food prices mean unaffordability and mean hunger. Two hundred million people already face food insecurity, and that’s only set to get worse. There are a number of things that are critical to address in food security. The UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal has been a grea…

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Lukashenka regime's active role in the war against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner and fellow Members, I welcome this debate this evening. There has not been enough focus on the role of Belarus in this war. By being complicit, Lukashenko is part of Putin’s war machine. Mr Lukashenko, it’s clear the people of Belarus do not want this war. The Belarusian people want freedom and democracy. They want rid of Putin and they want rid of you. They stood aga…

6

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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The urgent need for an EU strategy on fertilisers to ensure food security in Europe (debate)

Mr President, I’d like to thank the Commissioner for taking the time to be here today and indeed, for his comments as regards coming forward with a proposal. It’s estimated that fertiliser is responsible for 40 to 60% of world food production. And prior to the war, 60% of fertiliser imports came from Belarus or Russia. In Ireland, for example, fertiliser prices prior to the war were EUR 280 a tonn…

2

May

2022

EN Speech

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EU action plan for organic agriculture (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to welcome this action plan on organics and the recognition that any expansion has to be market-led. Organics by its nature has a higher cost base and it needs a premium price in order to fund the costs involved. If it’s saturated, it undermines that market for new producers but also for existing producers who have invested heavily in t…

14

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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Implementation report on on-farm animal welfare (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to welcome this report on animal welfare carried out by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and thank the rapporteur and shadow rapporteur for the good work. It recognises the general high standard of animal welfare that exists across the EU. However, it is clear improvements can be made to bring about greater consistency…

20

Jan

2022

EN Speech

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Protection of animals during transport - Protection of animals during transport (Recommendation) (debate)

Madam President, the aim of this committee was to investigate non-compliance and ensure best practice in animal transport. It’s vital that we focus on improving the standards of those who are non-compliant rather than ensuring ever higher standards for those who are doing their best to comply. We saw examples of non-compliance that none of us could be proud of, and it’s something we need to addres…

23

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Common agricultural policy - support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States and financed by the EAGF and by the EAFRD - Common agricultural policy: financing, management and monitoring - Common agricultural policy – amendment of the CMO and other regulations (debate)

Mr President, as we vote on this CAP today, we must not lose sight of its main objective: supporting a fair standard of living for 10 million farmers, safeguarding a safe food supply for 450 million people, and sustaining healthy and vibrant rural communities. These are traditional goals of CAP, but we’re also seeking to significantly to address our environmental challenges. This can only be done …

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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An EU strategy to reduce methane emissions (debate)

Madam President, we all know that global warming is the challenge of our time, and after carbon, methane is key among the gases that we need to address. But if we are to solve the methane problem, we need to recognise the different sources of methane and the different approaches needed. Biogenic methane is just one of the key sources that needs to be addressed. Science recognises that biogenic met…

18

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)

Madam President, I would like to welcome the overall Farm to Fork Strategy. While the targets are very challenging, I believe that, by and large, it can be achieved through modern science, smart and precision farming and the use of natural solutions, such as clover as a fertiliser. However, I am also concerned that the combined effect of the target within the strategy could lead to unintended cons…