News

EU candidates for Dublin quizzed on migration, defence

admin4 weeks ago

0 0 7 minutes read

Eight of the candidates standing for the four seats in the Dublin constituency for the European Elections have taken part in a live debate on Prime Time, with the issues of migration and defence to the fore.

Three outgoing MEPs – Barry Andrews of Fianna Fáil, Ciarán Cuffe of the Green Party and Clare Daly of Independents 4 Change – were among those taking part, along with Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty, Aodhán Ó Riordáin of the Labour Party, Lynn Boylan for Sinn Féin, Sinéad Gibney of the Social Democrats and Bríd Smith of People Before Profit Solidarity.

Migration

Mr Andrews said he supported the EU Pact on Migration, adding that he was concerned by the frustration felt by many people on how migration was being handled. He said the pact has the potential to restore confidence, adding “it’s 10,000 pages – nobody agrees with everything in it but if we reject it there’s no way we’ll get something as progressive”.

Mr O’Riordáin said he wouldn’t support the pact, comparing it to the UK’s Rwanda policy. “We see a stripping away of many of the rights people have fought for, for generations,” he said.

We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Ms Gibney said that the numbers of people coming into Ireland is no way problematic in the context of our population. “The problem is the government; the problem is the system,” she said. She described recent policy announcements by the Government on migration as “performative cruelty”.

Ms Smith said that people coming into Ireland seeking refuge were being scapegoated for problems created by the Government. “People should be made welcome and given the right to work from the get go,” she said, adding it was wrong to make them wait before they can contribute to society.

The state needs to build reception centres and the EU migration pact would give a common set of rules across the EU, Regina Doherty said, adding: “All of us want to have a set of rules based on social justice and dignity.”

Sinn Féin opposes the EU migration pact on human rights grounds, Lynn Boylan said, as well as on the issue of sovereignty. She accused the Government of trying to railroad it through the Oireachtas.

Ciarán Cuffe said the European Green group in the European parliament had opposed the pact and Green TD’s in Ireland are voting for it after receiving assurances it would be applied fairly here.

Clare Daly said Ireland is uniquely placed because it doesn’t have to sign up to the pact because it is not in Schengen, and because of the Common Travel Area with the UK. She said Ireland should adopt its own policy.

Defence and Security

Regina Doherty said Ireland is 100% militarily neutral and that this will not change but: “We need to prepare to have better defence and security capacity”.

“More militarisation doesn’t make you safer, it makes you less safe,” Clare Daly said, adding that the perception that she was pro-Russian had been orchestrated by the Irish media and Irish establishment. She said she had condemned the invasion of Ukraine, and spoke in favour of its territorial integrity.

For Labour, Aodhán Ó Riordáin said people “were losing sight of what the EU is supposed to be, the world’s greatest peace project”. He said if the triple lock is to be changed there must be a referendum.

The Government’s desire to end the triple lock, Brí Smith said, shows it wants to sign up to a European defense pact. She said the spending on military aid for Ukraine “is not working”.

Ms Andrews said Ireland “cannot continue to outsource our sovereign decision to the UN Security Council,” adding the circumstances around the triple lock have completely changed.

Ciaran Cuffe said the Green Party is in favour of modifying the triple lock, and that he wants Ireland to continue its proud tradition of peacekeeping, while Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin said the big issue on defence is the underresourcing of the Irish Defence Forces, adding that Sinn Féin wants to see neutrality enshrined in the constitution.

Sinead Gibney of the Social Democrats said the EU needs to put diplomacy over military solutions “as a European Union we need to be a voice for peace”.

Climate Change

Ciarán Cuffe was asked about comments made by Regina Doherty accusing the Greens of being arrogant doing more harm than good on climate action in Dublin.

He responded that the opposite was true, and said her ideas were a “recipe for gridlock” adding her comments were like something that someone would hear in a pub at closing time 30 years ago.

Ms Doherty said Fine Gael has voted more green legislation in Europe than the Greens, but that the Greens are alienating people “because of their autocratic style”. She said in a few year “we won’t have achieved our targets and we’ll have vilified sections of society”.

Lynn Boylan was asked about the Nature Restoration Law, which she supported but her party colleague Chris McManus MEP had voted against in the European Parliament. She said she wants the Nature Restoration Law but that it must be funded, and the lack of funding was why her party voted against. She said her party has an “A-grade” on its record on environmental votes in Europe.

Mr Andrews said he believes farmers are being misled by their leadership and he does not believe in extending the nitrates directive. He said climate is the issue that will stay with us for decades.

Ms Gibney said she also does not believe in extending the nitrates derogation but added that farmers need to be supported, and the Social Democrats would do that in government, and she would do that in Europe. She said the next term of the EU parliament will be most the important one for climate.

Clare Daly said farmers are not being funded to transition, while Bríd Smith raised the issue of public transport saying it needs to be improved to deal with climate and the current economic model is not compatible with climate action. She said putting the emphasis on people changing their individual behaviour is not fair and would not work.

Aodhán Ó Riordáin said the top 1%of income earners emit six times more carbon than the bottom 50% and inequality must be addressed in order to tackle climate

‘Quick fire question’ round to finish

Asked about Fianna Fáil’s record in government and the housing crisis in Dublin, Barry Andrews said the party is making progress, and attacked Sinn Féin which he described as “serial objectors” to housing projects.

Regina Doherty said Fine Gael in Government has told Ursula von der Leyen that she has got things wrong in recent months in relation to Gaza and has progressed the cause of a two-state solution.

Asked about a voting pact with Clare Daly, Bríd Smith said she is not going for one because they have different projects and hers is “uprooting those guys over there and getting them out of government”.

Lynn Boylan denied Sinn Féin has an identity crisis and attacked Fiann Fail for its lack of action

Sinéad Gibney said she did not accept that Rory Hearne would be a better candidate for the Social Democrats in Dublin saying “I’m exactly the right candidate in the right place”.

Asked why he wanted to go to Europe rather than remain in Dublin, Aodhán O’Riordáin said it was because the riots in the city centre had shocked him, and the MEPs who should have been representing the city were invisible.

Ciaran Cuffe, when asked if the tide was out for te Greens, said he did not accept this, saying their policies are needed now more than ever.

Clare Daly said her contacts with Liam Campbell, one of those held responsible for the Omagh bomb, was in the context of engaging with political prisoners on a human rights basis and engaging with people to draw them away from paramilitarism.

Source link

admin4 weeks ago

0 0 7 minutes read