Blog

The first photo here shows you the European Parliament diary that I keep in the back of my phone case. The red weeks are Plenary meetings...

The other MEPs in my group are a very diverse and interesting lot. There are a total of 705 MEPs and 98 of them are in my group, Renew...

The proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D for short) mandates companies to ensure their value chain does not...

On December 6th 1921, exactly 100 years ago, Michael Collins must have shuddered as he put pen to paper. His foreboding was so intense...

September is a month for think-ins and reflection on policy priorities for the year ahead. In my days in the Dail, there were two famous...

When I was an undergraduate in the late 1980s Yoweri Museveni came to power in Uganda, and brought relative stability, economic growth...

I entered the EP in unusual circumstances Brexit brought me in in two senses. I ran for election because I felt that there would be a...

The UK Government’s request to renegotiate the Protocol, published in its Command Paper on July 21st, is the fourth time the UK...

The EU’s response to the crisis in Ukraine has been rapid and transformative. As President Zelenskyy told the European Parliament this...

“This will be our reply to violence; to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before”. John Doyle was...

Who will ever forget the partially buried bodies of the Mayor of Bucha and his family on the news last weekend. If you have been shocked...

I attended an online meeting with two Ukrainian MPs last week. They were both heavily critical of the decision of the International...

As a child I recall having a record player in our house. My mother liked classical music and there were various 33’s lying around the...

Paul Krugman wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times last week titled ‘Biden, Yellen and the War on Leprechauns’. If such an...

Everyone I speak to is frustrated about the slow roll out of vaccinations in Ireland and the EU is getting a lot of blame. It’s really...

The world stood back in amazement. Vaccines that normally take years to develop were ‘discovered’ within months of the outbreak of...

Despite the power that she wields on behalf of Irish people across the world it would be interesting to see how you get on in the...

I am pleased to say that my group in the European Parliament, Renew Europe, last month voted to expel MEP Viktor Uspaskich from the...

At this time of year, it is polite to ask how your holidays went. This should not be confused with actual interest in how your holidays...

The next EU Council summit on December 10th and 11th will be the final opportunity to agree a budget for recovery for the EU. Standing in...

Despite the power that she wields on behalf of Irish people across the world it would be interesting to see how you get on in the...

Having to spend the weekend in Belgium has its upsides. I spent last Sunday in the battlefields in and around Ypres in southern Belgium....

It would be fair to say that there is a bit of a height disparity between myself and my wife. I am over 6 feet tall while she is just...

If the furore around Golfgate had any upside it was that it underlined how fortunate Ireland was to hold the powerful Trade portfolio of...