Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Pat Casey (FF), Labour Panel

I will be as brief as I can. Billy Kelleher always tells it as it is. We all want more, but we are not willing to identify how we are going to pay for it. I look forward to him making a presentation at the next parliamentary party meeting looking for more money off us to balance the budget. I cannot agree more with Séan Kelly. We are losing sight of the bigger picture. We are focusing on specific individual issues and losing sight of the common good and a lot of stuff that is happening at the moment, not just in relation to Mercosur but with other things.
My point to Cynthia Ní Mhurchú rolls into the committee the Cathaoirleach set up on EU scrutiny and the transposition of EU legislation into Irish law.
It is frightening to say that we will probably introduce 50 pieces of Irish legislation this year but we will transpose 200 pieces of European legislation into Irish law with no oversight. Legislation that starts in Europe probably doubles the amount of red tape for us. Certain European legislation is delaying critical infrastructure in Ireland. How do we interact more closely with MEPs to head this off before it becomes a single piece of European legislation and is transposed into Irish law?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18