Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Ostensibly, I think I heard the witnesses analyse the outcome to the election between Left and Right extremist parties. The statistics show that the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats are still the strongest groups in the European Parliament. At the outset we should congratulate Mr. Brian Crowley, MEP, on his decision to opt for a different grouping to that for which he was supposedly elected. We have heard it said that he was the ALDE candidate. In a sense he is doing Irish citizens a favour by allowing this controversy to raise its head. What would ALDE have meant to the Irish electorate? In trying to analyse the reason for the growth of the extreme Left and the extreme Right, we look to the statistics and some of those from both wings who have been elected to the parliament. I will cite some of the political groupings such as, I Believe, in Slovenia; Earth Party, in Portugal; Politics can be Different, in Hungary; Animal Rights Party in the Netherlands; the Pirate Party in Germany; We Can, in Spain; another called Citizens, another called-----