Speeches

Mr President, ombudsman, friends. Emily O'Reilly, the outgoing Ombudsman. It will not happen again in Europe. As an outstanding and brave journalist, she showed from the outset that she understood the urgent need to hold those in power accountable. Since becoming Europe’s first female Ombudsman, she has created and fostered greater transparency, ethics and better administration at a new and very high level in the European institutions. Her brave and determined work showed us: number one, that all the institutions are here to serve the people of Europe – you in the viewing gallery are listening. Second, the institutions must not abuse their powers to the detriment of Europeans. She fought tirelessly for justice, fairness and trust in our systems. It was not at all reluctant to stand up for EU citizens and consumers and tackle big power institutions such as the Commission. She didn't take “no” easily. Congratulations, my dear wife.

Today we have reached thirty-five years of children’s rights thanks to the UN Convention. But what’s the reality in reality? Are we protecting children around the world in every country around the world? More than 11,000 children have been killed in Gaza, Palestine, and more than three thousand of them are under the age of five. Gaza has been described by UNICEF as a graveyard. A cemetery for thousands of children. We should be embarrassed in this house for negligence in the European Union. The next generations, your children, will be wondering why we didn't do more to protect these children from death, destruction. The weapons used by Israel often come directly across from the European Union. There are many trade agreements between the EU and Israel. We should celebrate the thirty-fiveth anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child through three things. First, call and demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Number two, abolition of arms sales. Third, review the trade agreement.

Mr President, I welcome the Commission’s action plan on improving European rail services. If we are serious about promoting the rail system, we need to be serious about spending money on it. There is an urgent need to invest in infrastructure and customer experience. There is also a need to increase certainty and frequency of services, as the train is not always faster than the car. In Ireland, for example, it takes three and a half hours to travel by car from Kerry to Dublin, while on the other hand, by train, it takes four hours. Disadvantage for the traveller. Catering services on trains, which were suspended during the pandemic, remain closed. On some trains, a bottle of water cannot be bought and, because of its many people, even a seat cannot be found. This is seats that are pre-purchased by consumers. And there must always be vigilance in terms of anti-social behaviour and theft threat. Dear Members, we will appeal to the public to take advantage of the rail services across Europe if we spend the necessary money on the services.

A Uachtaráin, I welcome this debate and reiterate Renew Europe's call for a comprehensive mental health strategy for Europe. It's a matter of urgency: 84 million people across the EU have been diagnosed with mental health issues such as anxiety, panic and depression. I know about these issues better than most, having experienced them first-hand with family members and with former clients. These people need to be supported, not stigmatised. We need a mental health strategy with concrete targets, timelines, benchmarks. In Renew Europe's policy paper of 2021, the Renew Group looked at how mental health issues are impacting both our economy and our society: our people. The policy paper called for appropriate funding at EU level and funding for EU and national levels to ensure better mental health outcomes. It also called for setting up cross-border and cross-sectoral cooperation at EU, national, regional and local levels for our mental health services. Let's beat mental health together.

Mr President, drug dealers in Europe are becoming more sophisticated, smarter, more violent. Thanks to the new technology, they can hide money and move drugs across Europe with ease. The Irish are the largest users of cocaine in Europe, according to last year’s European drug report. As an Irishman, this is a shame for me. MDMA use in Ireland has grown exponentially over the last 10 years and cannabis has long been the most common drug in Ireland. Starter portal drug. Taking drugs is taking lives. Drug crimes are on the rise across Europe and we need to bring to justice people who use drugs socially and risk and take lives. leaving children without parents. A tragic vacuum. Friends, we need to better equip Europol to fight the drug dealers. We need to empower Europol to administer and manage cross-border inquiries rather than depending on the request of Member States to act. We need to allow the national police services to cooperate more with each other. We fight against drug dealers.

Mr President, Madam Commissioner Vestager, fellow MEPs, let's get real here in the real world outside of the Brussels bubble. The Digital Services Act versus tech giants is akin to David versus Goliath. It's regulation versus profit-hungry rebels. The Goliath tech giants devour regulations and self-regulation and compliance for their breakfast. They thrive on enforcement and self-regulation because they know it's slow, cumbersome and full of red tape. In the meantime, friends, the Goliath tech giants have made millions. They have robbed our children of their childhood. They have swindled our old-age pensioners out of their savings for their holidays. And they have organised our citizens to hate, to maim and to kill. That means, quite simply, lives are lost. I say enough is enough. You and me and us as MEPs, we need to legislate for robust laws and fast laws. That means interim and interlocutory suspensions and injunctions. We need to be rapid and, especially, we need criminal sanctions for those directors of the tech giants. That will temper the tech giants. That will teach them manners. I say ...

Mr President, Madam Commissioner McGuinness, dear colleagues, a chairde uilig atá ag éisteacht, Ireland has a proud tradition of pro-European politics, over 50 plus years. And I call on all the Members of this House in these times of trouble, and we have heard of many problems here this evening, to remain relevant, real, effective, efficient, down to earth. These are values that I espouse in representing the people of Ireland South. Let's promote less red tape, more communication, more simplicity. It's for this reason that I will be talking about defending children's rights, as the tech giants rob them of their childhood. Repairing our roads. As more and more people die on those roads, and also standing up for farmers who, tonight, are anxious, depressed and down because they simply don't know whether they can repay loans taken out in the face of possibly losing the derogation which is so vital to Ireland. For those reasons, colleagues, I call upon all of us at the start of this mandate to rise to the challenge, to be relevant, to be real.