EuroParlRadio

Despite privacy concerns, MEPs vote for new database on visitors to continental Europe - Harkin

The European Parliament voted today to introduce an electronic entry and exit system to replace manual passport checks at the external borders of the EU's Schengen area. The measure is controversial because it will store various data on people visiting the EU, and share the information with all external border points. This data will be stored. Just a few years ago, the EU objected to a similar scheme put in place by Canada.

Ireland and the United Kingdom are not in the EU's Schengen passport-free area, and therefor Irish citizens will have their data stored in this database when they visit continental European countries.

Marian Harkin, an independent MEP from Ireland's Midlands North-West, shares the privacy concerns. But she voted for the measure, because she says it is badly needed for security reasons.

New EU push to make sure food producers are adequately compensated by retailers - McGuinness

This week the European Commission confirmed that they are going to take action to make the food supply chain more fair. Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness, a vice-president of the European Parliament, welcomed the move. She says that food producers are being treated unfairly by retailers.

Airlines are adding secret charges to flights found on aggregator sites like SkyScanner - Clune

Deirdre Clune, a Fine Gael MEP representing Ireland South, will today demand that the European Commission investigate secret charges being levied by airlines on travel websites. The airlines have recently started adding charges of around fifteen euros to flights booked on aggregator websites like SkyScanner and Momondo. The charge cannot be seen anywhere by the customer. Clune says this violates EU business practice rules, and she is asking the Commission to look into it.

Sexual harassment has no place in the modern workplace - Clune

This morning, following media reports of sexual harassment in the European Parliament, MEPs will hold a debate about what can be done to combat sexual harassment and abuse both within the EU institutions and in the EU as a whole. The media investigations, including one by The Sunday Times, were spurred by the scandal surrounding film producer Harvey Weinstein in the United States.

MEPs will vote tomorrow on a resolution calling for more to be done to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. Deirdre Clune, a Fine Gael MEP representing Ireland South, says EU institutions should lead by example to make clear that employees don't have to tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace. 

European Parliament will get to the bottom of sexual harassment allegations - McGuinness

This morning, following media reports of sexual harassment in the European Parliament, MEPs will hold a debate about what can be done to combat sexual harassment and abuse both within the EU institutions and in the EU as a whole. The media investigations, including one by The Sunday Times, were spurred by the scandal surrounding film producer Harvey Weinstein in the United States.

MEPs will vote tomorrow on a resolution calling for more to be done to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. Mairead McGuinness, the Irish Fine Gael MEP who serves as a vice-president in the Parliament, said she was shocked by some of the allegations of what has gone on in her institution. 

Ireland's experience shows Malta that a journalist's murder can spark government change - Hayes

The European Parliament held a moment of silence in Strasbourg today in the presence of the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese journalist murdered last week. MEPs later held a debate on protecting journalists and whistleblowers.

Brian Hayes, a Fine Gael MEP representing Dublin, noted that Ireland went through a similar experience with the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, who was murdered by drug lords she was investigating in 1996. That murder sparked real changes in Ireland, he says, and maybe the same can be true in Malta.

Ireland and others should increase EU budget spending to fill Brexit hole - Clune

Brexit will leave a large hole in the EU's budget. The European Commission has put forward a discussion paper on what the various options are, and MEPs are debating them in Strasbourg this week. Unless the remaining 27 member states increase their EU budget contributions, programs like the Common Agricultural Policy will have to be cut. Fine Gael MEP Deirdre Clune says governments should increase their spending in order to protect EU programs.

Irish farmers will have to return to ploughing if European Parliament bans glyphosate - McGuinness

The European Parliament today approved a resolution calling on the European Commission to ban the use of glyphosate, used in weedkiller Round-up, in five years. The European Commission had proposed extended the substance's license for ten years, but said today after the vote it will instead propose a five to seven year extension.

However the final decision is up to national EU governments. Mairead McGuinness, a vice-president of the parliament and MEP for Ireland's Midlands Northwest district, says governments should reject the Parliament's proposal because it would force farmers to return to less climate-friendly farming practices.

MEP Brian Hayes predicts 40% chance of 'no deal' hard Brexit

Brian Hayes, a Fine Gael member of the European Parliament representing Dublin, says that after a summit in Brussels last week he would put the odds of the UK crashing out of the European Union with no deal for access to the bloc's single market at 40%.

MEPs plan attack on Daylight Savings Time - Kelly

This weekend it will be time once again to turn the clocks back one hour, as Irish Summer Time comes to an end. But a group of MEPs in the European Parliament want to bring this practice to an end, saying it causes many more problems than it solves. They will hold a press conference in Strasbourg tomorrow calling on the European Commission to put forward a proposal to end the practice of daylight savings time across the European Union. Seán Kelly, Fine Gael member of the European Parliament for Ireland South, is the only Irish MEP in the group.