Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Mark Daly (CC), Administrative Panel

I welcome everybody to our engagement with our MEPs from the Dublin European constituency, including the former Leader of the House, Regina Doherty MEP. This is part of the Seanad reform we have completed over the past few years to ensure that Europe is part of the focus of what we do. The engagement with MEPs has a central role in that link between the Seanad Chamber, Senators and Members of the European Parliament from Ireland and the wider European community.
The challenges that we face in Europe and the world are enormous in everything from the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine but also the bigger problems, including climate change. I think it was a decade ago that the Pope and the Pentagon said in the same week that climate change was a bigger threat to our security as a world than terrorism. We now also have the situation of artificial intelligence where many people are afraid for their futures and their jobs but also have concerns about how artificial intelligence will challenge us as a people. Europe has to play a leading role in that and it is not an easy challenge to get them all to agree.
Ireland's Presidency of the European Union and the MEPs' engagement here today is an important part in highlighting the central role that Europe is playing but also can play. I was at an event last night where Bertie Ahern was talking about our joining the European Union and how it transformed us over 50 years ago from an agrarian economy. There were legislators and business leaders from India trying to understand how Ireland transformed and what they could learn from us about how they can improve their economy, their society and their state for their citizens. They see us as a gateway into the European Union, not only from an economic point of view but also from a political point of view.
This engagement here today is a very important part of our engagement with Europe but also the Seanad's role when it comes to scrutiny of EU directives and all issues relating to Europe. I thank the Senators who are here today, not just from the Dublin area and also from across the country. I thank Mr. Barry Andrews, MEP; Ms Regina Doherty, MEP; and Mr. Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, MEP for being here as well. We will follow the format under the Standing Orders of the Seanad. In Europe they only get one or two minutes-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23