As lead negotiator for the European Greens, I am currently working on the reform of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, with a particular focus on plastics. In that work, one issue keeps coming up. We cannot keep trying to rely on recycling as a silver bullet to tackle the […]
As an MEP, the work that takes place in the European Union often seems too distant from the people who voted in the European elections back in 2019. It is something that has always bothered me, especially as too often the television and radio in Ireland focuses on American or […]
It’s a rare moment that the cities of New York, Cork, Brussels and Athens are linked by the same thread. But in the second week of January, journalists and activists were gathering around a previously unknown case about to take place on the island of Lesbos in Greece. The admirable […]
On January 1, 1973, Ireland finally joined the European Economic Community following a decade of back and forth negotiations. At that time, our economy was almost entirely reliant on Britain, as was our application to join the European Community. Twice Britain’s application to join was rejected and ours along with […]
Back in the 1980s, I spent plenty of time in and out of police cars, military boats and detention centres, as a result of various demonstrations and protests with Greenpeace and the Rainbow Warrior. In a way, we were asking for it with the provocative activism that was the Greenpeace […]
It has been a busy few weeks for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and unfortunately, it hasn’t been good news for the state of Ireland’s nature. Almost half of our rivers and lakes are now polluted and almost a fifth of them in ‘bad’ or ‘poor’ condition, according to the […]