Speeches

Mr President, I suppose I too wish to express reservations about the proposed Mercosur agreement. Over the past number of years, farmers have been asked, rightly, in my view, to farm in a sustainable way, to farm in a way which is environmentally sustainable and can guarantee a high-quality product to European consumers, and also a very high quality of animal welfare, and to increasingly farm in a way that reduces carbon emissions and reduces the use of pesticides, herbicides, et cetera. All of that, colleagues, I believe, is threatened by the Mercosur agreement. But even more than that, the proposal which we are now hearing that because there is opposition to the Mercosur agreement in particular Member States that it will be split so that only the trade component will be voted on here by qualified majority voting and the remainder left to be ratified by Member States at some time in the future, if at all. That, colleagues, is profoundly undemocratic. If that was the road that we had started on, it might be acceptable, but it is not. It will only be done if it is clear that it cannot be passed any other way, to bypass Member States. And that is unacceptable in my view.

Mr President, colleagues, Azerbaijan is a country that I came to know well when I worked in the OSCE, came to know even better when I was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, just beside this building, where I, along with a lot of others, encountered what was called at the time 'caviar diplomacy', where very large sums of money were washing around to encourage people to ignore Azerbaijan's human rights record. Because of that, I suppose, I wasn't surprised to meet a delegation from Azerbaijan in the Irish parliament building as streams of refugees were leaving Nagorno-Karabakh. Money talks, and nothing talks as loudly as petrodollars. For similar reasons, I'm not surprised that COP29 is going to be held there, and a minister of the Irish government, no less, is going to go over there and expound his environmental credentials to the world. Nevertheless, I think it's also time to be positive and to look at the possibilities that this offers. If there is a possibility of peace, then I would urge the Azeri Government to seize that opportunity, because otherwise COP29 will be no more than a farce. I would urge them to seize a possibility of peace with Armenia.

Madam President, in the TEU, the European Union pledges itself to respect the principles of the UN Charter and international law. That is why we must suspend the trade association agreement with Israel now. Irish troops and those of our Polish colleagues in southern Lebanon are there serving in UNIFIL in furtherance of those principles of the UN Charter. That is why the Union must stand with them when they refuse to relocate, when they fly the UN flag, and when they protect the civilian populations of that area from both sides and their service there has not been without sacrifice. We must recall that. We must also recall that only two years ago, Irish troops were attacked. Captain Seán Rooney paid the ultimate price and the perpetrators were shielded from justice by Hezbollah. So it is not a case of taking one side over the other. It is a case of standing up for the principles of the UN Charter. We must sanction Israel to further that and Irish troops must be supported in maintaining their positions in southern Lebanon.

(Start of speech off mic) … like the need to regulate disciplinary procedures for medical professionals at a European level. The procedures for recognising qualifications are already recognised at a European level. Obviously there's a considerable amount of transfer of medical professionals between European countries, and that is beneficial for both medical professionals, but also, perhaps more importantly, for our populations. However, procedures are not regulated – disciplinary procedures. In Ireland, the length of time it takes for fitness-to-practise procedures and complaints made against doctors has increased twofold in the past five years. It takes a number of years in some instances. That means that doctors have this black mark hanging over them for long periods of time, waiting to clear their name. In some instances, doctors who are unfit to practise are allowed to practise for long periods of time in others. Either way, it is a barrier to free movement of doctors, and it is something that needs to be regulated at an EU level, where Member States such as Ireland are failing to regulate it properly nationally.

Madam President, it is indeed important to acknowledge the huge threat to democracy posed by disinformation. But equally, it's important to acknowledge the threat to democracy posed by excessive government control of the media, be it at a European level or at a national level. Members of the Irish Government acknowledged the dangers of direct exchequer funding, at the discretion of the government, of state broadcasters. Nevertheless, the Irish state broadcaster this year is reliant on exactly that type of funding for 20 % of its funding. Print journalist Mark Tighe over the weekend unearthed that applicants to another government fund aimed at boosting media coverage of major geopolitical developments and the changing nature of Ireland's role in the world were told there should be more emphasis on the wider topic of climate change and a focus on EU issues, such as the rise of populism and disinformation. Now, colleagues, those of you who agree with that emphasis, and I suspect its many, should consider that there may well be governments in future with an opposite approach. And they will say that the precedent has been set that governments can determine what public media must do in return for funding, even if we agree with that emphasis.

Mr President, colleagues, this August, three years after the fall of Kabul, the Taliban promulgated a new law, Article 22(10) of which stated 'an enforcer is duty bound to prevent the following individual wrongful acts: the sound of a woman's voice or any music emanating from any gathering or from the home'. I think one of the saddest aspects of this is that it was entirely predictable that this is what the Taliban would do. Yet it begs a lot of questions as to how the Taliban were able to come to power: how they were able to sweep across the country and into Kabul with such little resistance from the civilian population, or indeed the army; how the population were so sickened by the regime which had preceded it that they were almost resigned to their fate, to the Taliban – and yet that was the regime which enjoyed huge financial support from the European Union. Afghanistan was one of the biggest beneficiaries of EU development aid. By 2021, EUR 11 billion of taxpayers' money had been spent, exceeding even the amount of money being spent by the United States on the reconstruction effort. It appears that there was very little concern by the donors as to where exactly that money was going and who it was propping up and the degree of support that they had from the civilian population. Yet the answer is not to reduce funding, because we know that by reducing funding, infant mortality will rise again, and maternal mortality, which had been halved in the preceding years, will increase again, and women will die giving birth to a new generation of Afghans. The answer is not simply to stop funding – it is to take responsibility for who we fund and how.

Madam President, colleagues, Israel has a right to defend itself. Of that there is absolutely no doubt. However, it must, in defending itself, act within the confines and constraints of international law. It is not doing that at the moment. And we, the European Union, are standing idly by and watching that unfold. The attacks of 7 October by Hamas were barbaric. They were designed to provoke a reaction, and they have achieved that. Likewise, the hostage-taking is barbaric and the hostages should be released. However, none of that justifies the Israeli response in Gaza and the orders of the ICJ of 26 January and 28 March, made pursuant to the Genocide Convention, point to the fact that Israel is not acting within the constraints of international law. The EU Trade Association Agreement with Israel is founded upon respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter, yet the European Union refuses to act on that and thereby jeopardises its own claim to be founded on the principles of rule of law. We must act, colleagues, to prevent what is happening and unfolding in Gaza.