Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
============================================================

Mark Daly (CC), Administrative Panel

Before I conclude, it would be appropriate, given the themes we are talking about in our Presidency of the European Union, to quote a previous MEP, John Hume, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, who always talked about what he described as a single transferable speech:
Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace – respect for diversity.
I thank our MEPs for their contributions, their ongoing engagement with the Seanad and their work in Europe on behalf of the citizens of Ireland.

---

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