Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-27 ============================================================ Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel Cuirim fáilte roimh na feisirí Eorpacha go dtí an Teach inniu. I was not sure how this worked as a question and answer session. I was not sure how to do this. I am going to base my whole questioning around workers' rights. I am the Labour Party spokesperson for workers' rights, for rural and community development and for the Gaeltacht. I am going to base all my questioning around that. I am delighted the MEPs are here because we do not see them enough. We do not get the opportunity to meet enough so it is fantastic that they are here. I want to ask about the EU Inc. and the opportunity we have during the Presidency to look at our labour laws. We would love to see a harmonisation of labour laws right across the EU, which I do not think is going to happen, but we are lagging behind. Ireland has some of the weakest workers' rights in Europe. We have seen an action plan on the implementation of the EU minimum wage directive and the Government has been dragging its heels on this but we have to have the right to collectively bargain. People want to see a social Europe. It makes sense and is a reasonable idea to have a trading bloc but not if it is to the detriment of our country, that is, if Ireland is going to be a country with shelf companies because we have weak labour laws here. I would love to hear the MEPs' views on that, particularly on collective labour laws. Moving on from that, I want to talk about CETA. This arbitration Bill is coming before us in the House tomorrow and we have debated it here twice now. Since I have been elected, this has probably been the one piece of legislation I am most concerned about. There is no need to have it ratified; it is operating as it is. There is absolutely no reason to have a parallel court system, when we have a very mature court system ourselves. I would also like to hear the MEPs' views on that. We should not be made do something and I believe France, Italy and Belgium have a similar stance. However, it is not getting enough talk. I know it has been spoken about but I do not think it is getting enough airwaves and it is very concerning that we are not hearing more about it. I would also like to hear the MEPs' views on why the Claremorris to Collooney line under the western rail corridor, WRC, has not been included in TEN-T. Again, this is coming from the perspective of rural development and good jobs, and how we are working towards that. I would love to know how projects get included in that and why that part of the WRC was not included. Turning to Border counties, I live in Sligo and I am a representative in Sligo-Leitrim. What are the MEPs' moves around unity and how have they engaged on this? As Senator Tully said, the North did not want to leave Europe and was dragged out. What are the MEPs and their party groupings doing to ensure this is not just left to these talks with no actual, concrete plan put in place? Since 2022, the Irish language has been recognised as a working language in Europe. Where would they see their role in promoting the working use of the Irish language? There has been a huge resurgence and interest in Gaeilge here, thanks to a lot of cultural references such as Kneecap and other things. There has been a surge in interest in Irish and I wonder where the MEPs sit on that. As they represent an area where we have islands and a Gaeltacht within our region, where is their role in that? As for CAP, I come from community work, and have met Mr. Mullooly and other MEPs at LEADER conferences. There is real concern among LEADER projects that their money is not going to be ring-fenced any more. What are the MEPs' roles within that? Finally, on the occupied territories Bill, am I right in referring to 27 foreign ministers? Mr. Cowen made a statement recently saying he is very much in favour of banning goods and services from an EU perspective with Israel? I might come back to him about that. What is holding it up and why is it not happening? Israel is a rogue and a terrorist state. Why are there not full EU sanctions on any trade on goods and services between the EU and Israel? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-27/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:00+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-27