Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-29-Speech-3-026"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20061129.9.3-026"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I welcome the Taoiseach here for an honest discussion about the future of Europe, but, as I was once told when asking for directions, I would not start from here.
Taoiseach, your government has cultivated Ireland’s image in Europe as a success story, the once poor nation made good, but this House deserves to know what lies behind this so-called success. As the Irish know, Ireland is now open for business, but closed for people. We spend freely to lure the market but cut every corner in social spending.
It is this mentality that has lengthened waiting times for vital hospital procedures to months instead of days. It has also seen families of children with disabilities badly treated, like the O’Cuanachains, hounded through the courts at a cost of millions just this year instead of their five-year-old child being given an appropriate education. This is also the mindset which makes our Environmental Protection Agency a rubber stamp of approval for even the dirtiest business, no matter how damaging it is to the environment; a mindset that opens Ireland to toxic industries like incineration, which Irish people do not want.
You also seem to believe that the mental health and suicide problem, which grows with our economic success, is a mere inconvenience and not a tragedy that our country has never really addressed. Similarly, there are tens of thousands of unpaid carers whom we should be supporting for the valuable work they are doing, but whom your government treats like Oliver Twist asking for more.
Why, Taoiseach, has your government destroyed our sugar industry for an EU scheme, when Irish agriculture is struggling for survival and when we need biofuels like ethanol? Why did your government vote to allow EU funding for embryo-destructive research, when our people have always cherished the most vulnerable citizens?
Finally, Taoiseach, why have you come here propositioning us with a dead Constitution that the Irish do not want. We already have a truly great Constitution, for which Irish men and women laid down their lives, a Constitution which gives us a genuine foundation for real and respectful cooperation with our European neighbours. Ireland is a great country with amazing people. They certainly deserve better and I think you will finally discover this when you put the Constitution, or whatever you decide to call it, to a referendum."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples