Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome my colleagues and our MEPs to the Chamber for this important session. I consider this an extremely important session in that the linkage between the Seanad and the European Parliament is a vital one given that so many European directives and regulations impact on Irish law and life. It has been quantified in the past - I do not know by what methodology - that the impact is about 70%. The impact of European law in this country is significant and the European Court of Justice takes precedence. The link between the European Parliament and this Chamber is a vital one. It is a central plank of Seanad reform and maintaining Ireland's link with Europe. It is something that the people who put us here, in all our respective capacities, would want. There is a very high satisfaction rate and support for Europe in Ireland and there is a great will among the populace that we would have these linkages and this connection, and that MEPs would be central to our activities here and not as some distant component. For that reason, this is a very important session. I welcome the MEPs and I thank them all for being here.

I will start with the address by the MEPs. We are doing it in alphabetical order. We are going to ask each MEP to speak for not more than six minutes. I appreciate the good number of colleagues who have come here and who are on their way here. That is very impressive and it is a testimony to how seriously they take this issue. It is my great pleasure to call on Barry Andrews, MEP, former Minister of State and Member of the Dáil. He is a member of the Committee on International Trade, the delegation to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, the Delegation for Relations with South Africa, a substitute member of the Committee on Development, the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation, and the delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, among others. He has had a very distinguished career to date and that continues. He has a very impressive CV. It is my great pleasure to ask him to address the Chamber.