Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

It is good that we have these sessions where we bring the debates happening in Europe here and make the connections clear. There are some really important discussions happening during Ireland's Presidency, so I am going to focus primarily on the MFF, the shift away from overseas development aid in a really worrying way and the move in terms of LIFE funding and other programmes, which are so crucial to small farmers and people doing the actual environmental work across the country and across Europe, and the moving of so much, like that fund for example, into a competitiveness fund.
This competitiveness framing, which we have heard again and again, means when we look at the MFF, it seems concerning that a lot of what remains, which is not getting moved directly into arms and into re-supporting the German automobile industry, which we know is now directly partnering with Israeli military development, for example, is going into competitiveness funds. I am very concerned.
I would like to hear thoughts on how we avoid the capture we have seen in the United States largely, but not solely, by very large billionaire tech advocates who have extreme interest expressed in political control. We see that now attached to things like the Rhine Group in terms of Collison and Draghi being part of that, and it parallels so much of what we have seen in the advocacy around the wealth tax, for example, in the United States, again, where there has been funding, and some of the really concerning messages.
I wonder about the competitiveness narrative because it seems to be mainly benefiting large US multinationals. It is ExxonMobil in the room when we are talking about the omnibus Bills. It seems that we are looking at a level of corporate capture by European institutions that I have not seen, as somebody very passionate about Europe, for years. The public see it too. I worry that this level of corporate capture is diminishing public confidence in Europe. I would like to know what can be done on that. As part of that, a key test for it is where we balance and where we figure out where our priorities are. Where do European values, which we hear referenced very often, actually sit? Where do human rights and international rights sit within European values and where do values sit within the actual decision-making?
There are four specifics I would like to be addressed. One is the trade deals being negotiated at the moment. We have all wrung our hands about the EU-Israel association agreement and how we cannot get the qualified majority or unanimity to do the right thing, but Ireland also sat back on the EU-Morocco deal in relation to Western Sahara, and during this Presidency, we will see negotiations on the EU-Indonesia deal even as there are reports right now from West Papua about the large-scale assassination of civil society members.
I am asking how, within the Parliament, the MEPs plan to push in advance at the point when a majority is needed to make a new deal. This is the point when the balance of power sits with any voice willing to stand up, before the deal is made, for human rights, as well as for the enforcement and meaningful enforcement of human rights in other deals.
Another area I am concerned about, which sadly is something the EPP collectively voted against, is the reference to the United Arab Emirates, UAE, in the amendments on Sudan. I refer to amendments to specifically name its involvement in conflict. We know the EU is also negotiating a trade deal with the UAE.
When does the values bit kick in? Do we talk about it aspirationally afterwards or is it brought through in the discussions about money? Is it about values or is it about a price tag? That is at the core of public confidence in the European Union. It is also at the core of making it something we can be proud of. I look back to my involvement in the Future of Europe process and what the citizens wanted. They want a Europe that is good, not just a Europe that is strong and makes money. I would like to know how that is being translated into these key discussions and the decisions being made on our watch.

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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/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23