Speeches

Madam President, human rights defenders should never be a target. Their work day in and day out is integral to our democracies, and it should be understood as such. Nobody should fear for their lives when they are defending human rights. Too many human rights defenders have lost their lives around the world. In my own country, in Ireland, we know the work that human rights defenders have done over the years when Irish women could not get their rights and sexual and reproductive health and helped them to deal with many difficult and tragic situations. We are still seeing human rights defenders doing this work in Europe, in places where the right to sexual and reproductive health and rights are under threat. We see places like Poland, where women’s rights to abortion was taken away, and where women fleeing from Ukraine who were raped cannot get the help that they need. Working in these most difficult conditions, we must applaud human rights defenders. Indeed, around the world, in places like Colombia, Kenya, Argentina, we see human rights defenders working in extraordinarily tough situations. That’s why, in my current work on the directive combating violence against women and domestic violence, my co-rapporteur Evin Incir and I have proposed that in the context of violence against women, violence against a human rights defender should be an aggravating circumstance. Today I call on the Council to agree to this proposal and to send a clear message that violence against human rights defenders is unacceptable. We must see this in the directive and we have to support those who stand up for democracy. Because what human rights defenders around the world are doing is, they are standing up for democracy. In many instances, of course, they are also standing up for gender inequality, they are fighting against the gender inequality that they see around the world, and we all know we have unfinished democracies and unfinished economies and human rights defenders are playing a pivotal role.

Madam President, thanks to you and President Ursula von der Leyen for holding this important event today. Women with ambition change the world. They are the change—makers, the innovators, the pioneers, the trailblazers. Yet ambition and drive can only take a woman so far if she does not have access to the tools she needs to succeed. The tools to make that change. Our green and digital future must be inclusive of women. If these transitions are not inclusive of women, not only will the benefits miss half the population, but the population will miss out on half of all potential innovation. We have so much to do on inequality, but let me focus on digital. To quote Professor Karen Spärck Jones, with respect, ‘Computing is too important to be left to men’. Yet we know that the gender divide exists and is in fact growing, while technology races ahead. I’ve just returned from the UN conference which looked at tech, AI and the future of these industries and how 78% of jobs that will be created in our future will be in these areas. We have to make sure that young girls and women benefit from this technologically extraordinary time of change. It is critical. We have a small window of opportunity to prevent systemic inequalities being replicated in the digital world. How dreadful to think that actually the inequalities we have now will be replicated once again. Surely it’s time to make sure they are not replicated and that we correct these inequalities now, that we take away those stereotypes that young girls, young women, still face with the lower numbers in STEM at present. If we are to foster the Marie Curies, the Ada Lovelaces, the Margaret Hamiltons, the Samantha Cristoforettis and Shirin Ebadis of tomorrow, we must work to close the digital gender divide both in Europe and across the world today. It is about dealing with all of those inequalities we speak about here endlessly – whether we are talking about representation (the only 26.6% of women in parliaments worldwide), the extraordinary violence destroying women’s lives – all of these inequalities need to be dealt with now. If we are to face the future with confidence, let us make sure we are supporting and empowering those who will build our world of tomorrow.

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister. Really, it is very depressing, Commissioner, to hear the statistics that you’ve just quoted. I’m sure all of us are getting tired of coming in here and hearing such depressing statistics. I know there is much on the implementation table that potentially gives us hope, but it really does reinforce the enormous job that we have to do in this particular area of technological change and digitalisation, as well as other areas. Yet another statistic to add to what we’ve heard already: only 7% of women work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. And if we are to ensure that the green and digital revolution are going to apply equally to women and men, we have to make sure that women are at the table – because we know that if women are not at the table, their voices, their perspectives are missing from research. I do hope Horizon will make a difference. We know, for example, in medical research that the particular needs of women have been ignored for generations, and it was not seen that you needed to have that different perspective. As we go to the UN next month in New York, the theme is, of course, ‘innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls’. It’s really important that we discuss this at a global level because, as we’ve heard, there is so much work to be done in this area, and this is the future, and we are at risk of inequalities continuing, despite this technological change, if we don’t make sure that women get these opportunities. So I know our delegation, led by Robert, will do everything we can to ensure that it is ambitious, so that we can build that future for women and girls that you spoke about, Commissioner. And I want to thank both the Commissioner and the Minister for your ambition in relation to this at the UN.

Madam President, gender-based violence damages our societies, our very social fabric. It ends women’s lives, but it also damages our economies to the tune of 366 billion per year. And yet we have so much to do to eradicate it. If it was any other issue, colleagues, we would be here jumping up and down with outrage at this wasteful cost to our economies and to the very lives of women. We have to be the first continent to eradicate this horrendous phenomenon. And the time is now. And I thank the rapporteurs for the work and the Swedish Presidency, because I hope they ensure that we now ratify this global gold standard in combating violence against women: the Istanbul Convention. But let me also call on the Council here to actually support the directive on violence against women and domestic violence. No more excuses, no more legal arguments that say ‘we cannot pass this directive’. There is a golden opportunity now for the Parliament, the Commission and the Council to actually make sure we make a quantum leap forward by adopting a strong directive before the end of the year to deal with this exceptionally traumatic, disturbing issue, irrespective of the fact, for example, that rape is not a eurocrime. It should be, but it’s not. Surely public policy, public safety demands that at this very point we get unanimous support across the three institutions to have the strongest directive possible by the end of this year.

Madam President, shocking news again today from Ukraine. Of course, our deepest sympathies. Last Saturday in Europe, a pregnant woman and her husband were slaughtered, along with so many others, as the bombs rained over Dnipro. Madam President, as she said: a yellow kitchen, a sad reminder of lives lost and lives destroyed. As we approach the one-year anniversary of this dreadful war, it should strengthen our resolve and support for Ukraine and its people. As we see from the Commission, and indeed from the Council, that is the direction we have to go. This is a defence of the global order. It is a defence of democracy. We must also make sure that the sanctions are monitored and implemented in an ongoing way. In relation to energy policy, we are making good progress, but we must protect the most vulnerable. This year will also mark 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended another serious conflict. That agreement laid the foundations for a new start and a peaceful future in Northern Ireland. We do not want this to be put in jeopardy. Commissioner, I want to thank you for your very serious, committed and patient work and for the ongoing discussions between the European Commission and the UK Government on the operation of the Northern Ireland Protocol. As we approach the anniversary, let us work towards an agreement and embed a hard-won peace for all our future generations.

Madam President, this is such an upsetting and disturbing debate when the President of this Parliament has to come in and say, ‘stop killing women’. And yet this is the reality, as we’ve heard from the personal stories here. Why do we allow it to continue? Because we are in the midst of a shadow pandemic where domestic violence, sexual assault and FGM are commonplace in all our societies across Europe. We absolutely have to have a unified and comprehensive response, just like we did with the COVID crisis. Some 850 000 women’s lives are lost every 10 years. Cities the size of Marseille, Amsterdam or Zagreb disappear from this Earth. Just imagine that. Just think about those cities disappearing. That’s the number of women that are murdered every 10 years, that die. The Council has to think about this, they have to take action. If the Member States had ratified the Istanbul Convention 10 years ago, think about how many lives could have been saved. Some of you will remember Ashling Murphy, a young Irish woman who was out jogging. She was brutally murdered in broad daylight in January of this year. She represents the thousands of victims we’re speaking about here this morning. As co-rapporteur on the directive on violence against women, I am working to ensure women with you across the Union are fully protected, working with my colleague Evin Incir. This will protect many, many women. We have to do this. We need male champions. We desperately need male champions to eliminate violence against women, to work with us, as this is a human rights issue. As International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is marked this week, I am calling on all political leaders, all in society, to fight for protection for women like Ashley and the millions of victims of violence against women that she represents.

Madam President, I organised the first conference on women and decision-making in Ireland over 30 years ago. This directive has been blocked for ten years. What is it about women’s equality that makes it so difficult for people to have agreement, to go forward, to have equal representation? It continues and we have to work hard. Well done to Commissioner Dalli and to the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for unblocking this. Of course we need it, we have to accelerate the representation of women on boards, that is really important. We have good leadership here and we see the presidents of the Commission, the Central Bank, and of course, our own Parliament. But this cannot just be a shooting star, one effort. It has to be methodical, it has to be systematic. And we have to make sure that there is a permanent change to ensure that women are more equally represented and that our companies benefit from the presence of women, because it is necessarily culturally, socially and of course, financially and economically. Because having more women on the boards of a company isn’t just a step towards societal justice, it is an economic imperative. And right now we have too few women. Isn’t it incredible that only 6.7% of women are chairs of boards and only 6.5% across Europe are CEOs? Yet adding one more woman to a company board increases the profits of that company and gives a higher return in assets to the tune of 8 to 13 basis points. So this directive has the power to change, and from today we will begin to see more women on those EU company boards. And that’s a good thing for everybody.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, it is not possible to talk about security without talking about digital. Today, the threats to society and our way of life exist just as much online as they do on a battlefield. We are it seeing right now with the ever-increasing number of cyberattacks coming from places like Russia and China – we’re seeing it right now. In Ireland last year, we saw an enormous and unprecedented cyberattack on our health service, with the personal data of thousands of people compromised. Imagine the same happening to an entire financial system. European citizens must be able to have confidence in the systems they use to save and invest their money. This is why this regulation is so important and essential. We need to implement it very quickly because of all the sensitive data that is held by our EU-wide financial services. Robust cybersecurity rules are essential to help the digitalisation of European finance and make this a sector fit for the 21st century. I want to thank all of the rapporteurs that we worked with, and in particular I would like to say that my colleague Billy Kelleher led so very well on this file and worked so cooperatively with all of us. If Europe wants to become a leading centre for financial services investment, we do need urgently a cybersecurity system in which people can have full and total confidence. It is an essential part of dealing with the future we are all facing.

() ... I won’t repeat it all. Basically, what I was saying is that the statistics are really horrifying. I don’t need to go into them again here. But let me just give one statistic: overall every ten years, a city the size of Marseille, Amsterdam or Zagreb disappears as 850 000 women are murdered every ten years. I mentioned as well, of course, the Ukrainian war and how Ukrainian women are experiencing first-hand the fact that rape becomes a weapon of war used by Russian soldiers. We need more action, we need it quickly. Violence is so pervasive. I hope the new directive will give significant protection to those victims and introduce preventative measures to help address the pervasive nature of this phenomenon, because we have to ensure that the fundamental rights of women and girls are secured. The Istanbul Convention being fully implemented and a strong directive really gives us that opportunity.

Madam President, Commissioner, as co-rapporteur on the proposal for a directive on violence against women and domestic violence, I am working just extensively to ensure women across the Union are protected alongside my co-rapporteur, Evin Incir. With this new directive, we must ensure that standards across Europe are raised and that it actually builds on the ground-breaking Istanbul Convention. However, be prepared for the legal basis of sexual exploitation to be challenged. Let us in this Chamber make sure that the legal definition of sexual exploitation includes rape and female genital mutilation. If this was to be questioned as we progress with this directive, what an insult that would be to the women of Europe and beyond. Right now, the European Parliament has a chance to create meaningful change. What we actually need is a fully ratified Istanbul Convention and a strong European directive on this topic. Why? Because everyone has the right to a life free from violence. However, the pervasiveness of violence against women in our society means that this is not yet a reality for women and girls. One in three women globally will experience sexual or domestic violence within their lifetime. And the statistics are horrifying. Overall, every ten years, a city the size of Marseilles, Amsterdam or Zagreb disappears, as 850 000 women are murdered every ten years. Even more so in times of war, as we see in Ukraine. Ukrainian women are experiencing this first-hand, as rape becomes a weapon of war used by Russian soldiers For too long, and I think most people in this House agree, there has not been enough action on the issue of violence against women. This is seen most notably in the failure of a number of Member States to ratify the Istanbul Convention. This new directive should provide significant protection to those victims and introduce preventative measures to help address the pervasive nature of this phenomenon. We must ensure that the fundamental rights of women and girls are secured.

Madam President, Commissioner, I welcome the moves towards a real energy union. The cost of living crisis is more than statistics. You are right, tackling the cost of living and the pressures all too real on businesses and families. Start with tackling the cost of energy. I welcome yesterday’s Commission proposal to further manage the cost of gas and to increase EU joint procurement of energy. We must, however, be ever alert to threats to competitiveness during this period and respond quickly. However, Europe can and must do more to alleviate the suffering of our most vulnerable citizens, right now. We need to urgently consider further integrating our energy grids to maximise energy sovereignty and protect EU citizens. However, it is vital that any price cap does not lead to reducing energy supplies in Europe or deterring investment. The EU Council must make significant and careful progress in developing a full and effective response when it meets. We must ensure that EU citizens are protected from the worst consequences of Putin’s war and Putin’s winter. He is a war criminal.

Mr President, colleagues, the brutal murder of two young men in Slovakia last week was chilling and shocking. Chilling and shocking because in 2022 many of us were hoping that hate crimes such as this were a thing of the past. And let us be clear, this was a hate crime. This attack took place outside a well-known gay bar in the city centre, a safe haven for many people in Bratislava. This was not only an attack on the LGBTQI+ community, but this was attack on all of our European values – let’s make no mistake about that. This is one serious case. But attacks on the LGBTQI+ people are happening in all EU countries with alarming regularity. The LGBTQI+ community in Slovakia and indeed across Europe are still subject to hate-filled rhetoric, which is often driven by some politicians – let’s be clear, they don’t show much leadership on this, quite the opposite – and by extremist groups, which in the end leads to the sort of situation that we have just seen. Hate, intolerance and intimidation towards this community still exists in Europe, and it must be challenged on every opportunity and every place that we see it being used. I commend the immediate, massive and positive response of Slovak civil society and citizens to the murders as seen in the many marches across the country and abroad. And I call on all European governments and the European Commission to show a genuine commitment to making meaningful progress in the protection of the LGBTQI+ people by ensuring a zero-tolerance approach to the physical, verbal and psychological abuse that the community is suffering. We need to continue to work on these issues.

Mr President, colleagues, the war has entered a critical new stage, with new victories from our brave and fighting Ukrainians every day. Ukrainian forces are advancing and regaining strategically important cities. Yet, as Ukraine advance, Putin ups his brinkmanship. The annexation by Russia of four Ukrainian regions last week further signified a deepening of his war efforts. His ruthlessness is exemplified by harrowing images of Ukrainians forced to vote at gunpoint and, of course, the shocking images of recently released prisoners of war. So too, the explosion within the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the threat of the use of nuclear weapons. We too in Ireland must defend our crucial infrastructure off the coast. The threat draws closer. Democracy can prevail in Ukraine, but only with united support and I mean united – right across Europe, on all fronts. Absolute support on sanctions. Ukrainians are fighting for our values, our democracies. They fight for us.

Mr President, High Representative, women in Iran are fighting for their fundamental rights, their freedom. The shocking and unlawful death of a young woman of 22, Mahsa Amini, is a stark reminder of the abuse and violence women face every day from the regressive Iranian regime. Women and men have rightly taken to the streets to protest at the barbaric and honestly sickening treatment of women by the Iranian State and their so-called morality police. What morality, I ask? Whose values? Whose morals? Certainly not women’s. We in this Chamber must join the Iranian people and condemn this use of violence against women. And the continued use of such disproportionate violence against protesters is abhorrent and emblematic of such an autocratic regime. We must support women to have choice in the way that they live. We must support the fundamental rights of all women to live life as they see fit, free from state—sponsored violence. The stories emerging are really totally unacceptable. They are dreadful, and I urge the High Representative to do everything in his power to take action against the state in a united way across Europe. Like so many of the women of Iran, Mahsa was brave and courageous. We must ensure that her death was not in vain.

Mr President, human rights have been at the core of our Union from the very beginning. Yet lately we see a rise in authoritarianism where the flouting of human rights is widespread and our fundamental values and ideals have been neglected and ignored far too often. Right now it is about autocracy versus democracy. Choose where you stand because European values are in peril. The full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental values within EU Member States can never be in question. The spirit of compromise is indeed integral in politics. But the EU cannot ever compromise on its values. They are core. There cannot be a halfway house for some Member States. Yet all Member States do have to do far more for the full enjoyment of rights by all citizens. We've already heard today, for example, about the disability issues. We must be setting the standards because we are supposed to be and, indeed, historically have been leaders in the field of human rights. We cannot stand on the global moral high ground if we do not embody that vision ourselves. We must renew and intensify our efforts to build a better European Union, one that ensures freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law for all our citizens. There is a big task to be undertaken by all of us.

Madam President, Europe today is facing crisis with war once again on our continent. But Europe has increasingly responded well to crisis, and our determination to do so again is unwavering. People and governments are looking to the EU, now more than ever, to see how we can tackle those global problems. We know what they are: energy prices, climate change, cost of living, inflation, job creation. Announcements are important, but now the EU must act decisively. Thank you, President, for your leadership. But we now need a commitment from all our Member States to implement all of these issues without delay. Use the funding, as the President has said, that is there. I welcome the supports that have been announced for families and SMEs. SMEs are at the heart of our economies. We know they are the job creators in our Member States. Only by working together, EU and Member States, can we ensure that the worst impacts of Putin’s winter can be avoided. This should not be about a battle of competencies, but a commitment to deliver. Our citizens are waiting.

Madam President, for too long Europe has been weak on energy policy. Now, with war having returned to Europe, we find ourselves exposed. Putin is trying to use energy as a weapon against Europe and our support indeed for Ukraine. We cannot let him win. Increases in energy prices are putting the viability of many small businesses at risk, increasing the potential for job losses and business failures, and, of course, decreasing opportunities for our young people. A difficult winter of uncertainty is ahead. We need a package of measures. We need to reduce taxes on fuel. We need to diversify our energy sources and move more quickly to renewables. And we need to tax the super-profits of energy companies benefiting from high prices. Our citizens should not be left out in the cold or in the dark this winter. We have to take action. It is time for the Commission, for Parliament and the Member States to take that action immediately. Our communities and our citizens need it.

Madam President, across the world, democratic values are being challenged by authoritarianism. Often it takes place under the radar, through online and cyber activity, with spyware, propaganda, interference in elections, elite capture and the funding of political parties. As politicians, the only people we should be answerable to is the voters and not regimes that seek to undermine our European values. We have seen high profile European politicians funded by loans from banks with close links to Putin’s regime. We have heard accusations of Pegasus spyware improperly used on public figures. We’ve also read about Members in this Parliament whose international footprints extend across some of the least democratic areas in the world. Their speeches are used as anti-Western propaganda in places like China, Syria, Iran and Russia. They praise Iranian State militias as freedom fighters or fraternise with convicted Russian spies. This is shameful, I believe, to see Members supporting regimes that are capable of launching a missile at a shopping centre and whose troops rob from the homes of innocent civilians. I think this is a betrayal of human rights, values and self-determination, which we in this Parliament always want to uphold. We need to protect our democracies. There is so much to do in all our countries. We have unfinished democracies everywhere. Last March, for example, the Parliament’s Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation produced its wide-ranging report. It is time to put these recommendations into action.

Mr President, I thank our colleagues for their unwavering support during the last number of years, and Vice-President, thank you for your work. It is heartbreaking to see so much peace and progress built over such a long period – over decades, it is nothing less than heartbreaking to see that being put at risk at present. So much peace, so much developed relationships all really up for question at the moment. Thirty years ago, if you travelled from south to north or north to south, you would have been met with checkpoints and police, barbed wire and guns. Today, there is an open border. There is a community and business doing well and the border barely exists. That is because of the Good Friday Agreement. It’s because of the EU’s Customs Union and is protected in the Withdrawal Agreement. The EU exists to bring down borders. The UK Government’s action risks putting borders up again. Dialogue is crucial, but all sides must be willing to engage in good faith, and we are not seeing that at present. The UK cannot speak about abiding by international commitments if it is not willing to respect the values of international law. The European Union has shown that it is willing to engage. It is time for the British Government to step back from the brink and do the same.

Mr President, I thank Commissioner Šuica for his work. And I’d also like to pay tribute to Sirpa Pietikäinen and Dennis Radtke from my own group who worked so hard on this. It is about time that Europe took action on care. We all know what a European perspective, action means. It means a greater focus on the harsh realities of care as it stands at present in the European Union, the harsh realities of what we saw during COVID-19. Who amongst us can forget the appalling tragedies that we saw in relation to long-term care? Who amongst us can forget the lack of carers, the lack of pay, the lack of proper training? Surely it is time that we took a European perspective on care issues. Every Member State will gain from this. Every Member State must be involved, because this goes to the heart of our communities. It goes to the heart of the quality of our lives, of our parents’ lives, of our children’s lives. Europe has much to offer. That care has long gone unnoticed and undervalued, and why? Because it is mostly women who have done it. It is beyond time to take action and make a difference in this area. We need EU money to build better care facilities. We need proper care workers with proper pay. We need to create eight million jobs in this area and we need to boost gender equality. It’s finally time for a Europe for carers and a Europe that cares. Thank you. The Queen on picking a dolce vita to pee on Drago’s bistro. Not so much a slow. Thank you, Chair. Commissioner Schuchat. Dear colleagues, the past couple of years show how the pandemic exacerbated the challenges faced by the care sector. And it is been a stark reminder of the importance of the care sector, the access to care and the efficiency of our Social Security systems. We have witnessed a lack of accessible and affordable quality long term care services and unacceptable stress put on the millions of care professionals, especially women, during a period of stress and crisis in an understaffed and underfunded sector. Existing challenges led also to a substantial share of informal care and outdated services not suited for the purpose. We need the necessary investment to give our citizens with the workers who are beneficiaries of the sector, the tools to face the existing challenges and the increased demand of care services due to an ageing population.

President, Commissioner, colleagues, we cannot build a true union of equality if half of our population – women – are disproportionately at risk of poverty. It is unsustainable and unacceptable. Take, for example, single parents: 85% of single parents in the EU are women and an astounding 42% of single parent families are at risk of poverty. And the risk of poverty is only growing for women. I want to highlight the situation of older women. The gender pay gap in Europe is currently 39%. That means, on average, women have 39% less than men in their pensions. We cannot have a situation where women are living in poverty as they retire and grow older. We have to do more, as has been said in the report, to close the gender pay gap, including recognising and acknowledging blocks of time that women spend caring for relatives and children. Of course, access to employment remains a key issue in the new industries, particularly in AI and technology. We have to ensure that young women take up those STEM subjects. It’s so important. This is one of the ways we will deal with this phenomenon of women in poverty. There is no reason for anyone in Europe to be living in poverty in the 21st century. We must stamp out this 19th century phenomenon.

It’s a complicated question. I mean, we do know that getting women’s rights generally and equality accepted in many of our societies has been extremely difficult. Abortion is a highly sensitive subject for people. But, as I say, I consider it to be a core, fundamental right and that women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights. Our experience in Ireland showed us that we had a very long journey that we had to take part in. To be honest with you, at the end of the day, it was the individual stories of women and men, those who had carried pregnancies that weren’t viable, when they told their stories in the public domain – and that’s a very hard thing to do, as it meant they had to show great courage – but, actually, that was what really convinced the public at the end of the day. But it took a lot of leadership as well. And all I can say is that whatever party you belong to, you will find there are varying views, and we have to work very hard to convince people that the right to abortion care is a human right.

Madam President, Vice-President, colleagues, when it comes to women’s rights, retrogressive initiatives globally are resulting in the backsliding of sexual and reproductive health rights, sadly, even here in Europe. The recent leak of an initial draft majority opinion of the US Supreme Court on the Roe v. Wade case is a huge cause for concern in the United States, but also for women here in Europe and around the world. Restrictions on access to abortion have forced women, notably those who are most vulnerable, to travel long distances, to carry unviable pregnancies to term against their will, or to resort to unsafe self-managed abortions. This was the situation in my Member State, Ireland, until the repeal of the eighth amendment in recent years, when Irish people put their trust in the women of Ireland. According to the WHO, the proportion of unsafe abortions is significantly higher in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws than in countries with less restrictive laws. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. This resolution acknowledges that, among adolescent girls, aged 15 to 19 years, pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death globally. Imagine that. Many of these deaths are preventable with safe, legal and timely abortion care and quality medical care. We must show compassion, empathy and flexibility when it comes to a woman’s right to choose how they live their lives. The absolutist approach of banning abortion entirely shows no compassion or civility for women, nor for their bodily integrity, or faith in them to make their own decisions. As legislators, we must uphold and demonstrate our commitment to the European values of human rights and respect for human dignity by stating our position here today. My core guiding principle is and remains the same, that women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights. Women deserve better in 2022. (The speaker agreed to respond to a blue-card speech)

Mr President, Commissioner, I welcome this debate and I will focus on one aspect of it. As throughout the COVID—19 pandemic, right across the European Union the enormous contribution that carers make to our societies was clear to see. Their work is critical, imperative, it underlines our very social fabric here, in European society, and ensures that our family and friends have the kind of care they need when they are at their most vulnerable. However, we know that many of those who provide care within our societies are immigrants to Europe, coming to provide care for Europeans of all ages at the moments in their lives when they need help the most. But we do not have enough carers in Europe with our care sector, childcare, elder care woefully understaffed, and care workers overstretched. This is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity for at least 8 million jobs in Europe by 2030. We must take advantage of it. And as such, I am delighted that the European Commission has now taken on board my call to attract workers in the care sector as part of their skills and talent package, following my representations to Commissioner Schinas. I particularly welcome that the Commission will explore the potential for a new EU—led visa scheme for care workers. To this end, I support calls to add care workers to the category of essential workers. This is crucial and should be implemented immediately. As we look towards the new European care strategy, which will be released in September, I see this as a crucial building block towards that strategy. Let’s make this the first step towards a Europe for carers.

Madam President, Commissioners, colleagues, I say to the Taoiseach, thank you so much for so passionately and comprehensively outlining the importance of the EU to Ireland past, present and future. As we both know, membership of the European Union has been nothing short of life—changing for the people of Ireland over the last 50 years. That historic vote in May 1972 to join the European Communities changed the economic and social trajectory of the Irish State for the better. And as an Irish woman, I can unequivocally vouch for this positive change. The five decades have witnessed Ireland’s emergence as a modern, open economy and society, shaped by close, reciprocal cooperation with our European partners. We strongly endorse the European values of human rights, democracy, freedom of the press, and rule of law. The European Union is a beacon, a model, and an instrument for obtaining peace. Fittingly, last night, as the Taoiseach said, we paid tribute to a committed European, a peacemaker, and a former member of this parliament, John Hume. We remember his outstanding work for peace and his resolute, determined stance against the use of violence in Ireland. He believed in and personified this institution, describing the EU as the most successful peace project in history. He believed in extensive dialogue to bring about peace. That approach is a hallmark of the EU’s efforts to resolve outstanding concerns within the protocol in Northern Ireland. The European way is to negotiate in good faith and we expect the same in return from the UK, not bad faith. Taoiseach, you were right when you said it would be a historic low to break an international treaty. I also pay tribute to the commissioners Maroš Šefčovič, and before him Michel Barnier, for their efforts to resolve these issues. They have shown endless patience and resolve, and I want to take this opportunity to thank my fellow parliamentarians here in this House for their deep understanding of the consequences of Brexit and for their unwavering support for Ireland as a small Member State. The brutal Russian aggression and invasion of Ukraine illustrates the scale of the threat to multilateralism, to human decency and to the international rule of law. All Member States have a role to play in the future of defence and security policy. We must support one another. I believe that the future of Ukraine and other Eastern partners is within the EU. But I ask, is it good enough to say that your future lies in Europe, but that could be a generation away? The issues facing Ireland today are mirrored across Europe. Ireland’s challenges are Europe’s challenges, and Europe’s opportunities are Ireland’s opportunities. Ireland and the EU must continue to defend democracy and the people of Ukraine. We must respond comprehensively to the current challenges of the cost of living crisis, the energy crisis, and work together as we have done during COVID. We are creating the future by the decisions made here today and through our engagement with our citizens. Ireland’s future is without doubt at the heart of Europe. Éire go brách and long live Europe.