Brussels to Belfast
de Brún in Dáil first
Bairbre de Brún became the first Northern representative to speak in the Dáil chamber when she took part in the Europe Day debate (9 May). She restated Sinn Féin’s opposition to the bail-out deal and wanted to see Ireland play a “central role” in Europe.
“Ireland’s debt burden is now unsustainable,” de Brún warned “and it is clear that Ireland will default in the time ahead. The policies that the EU-IMF have imposed on Ireland mean job losses, fierce cuts and a substantial reduction in public services. That is not the vision Irish people have for Europe or for Ireland’s role in Europe.”
Nationalist MPs have spoken at the Oireachtas’ Good Friday Agreement Committee since 2007 and some early TDs (including Michael Collins) represented Northern constituencies. Sinn Féin wants Northern MPs to have full speaking rights in the Dáil; unionists are opposed on sovereignty grounds.
‘Stronger after crisis’
“The European Union has always been able to cope with crises and emerge from them stronger,” José Manuel Barroso commented on Europe Day (9 May). He was commemorating the Schuman Declaration on 9 May 1950, when French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman asked European nations to pool their coal and steel production.
The Commission President looked forward to a “genuine economic union” and said the open-border Schengen zone’s principles would remain intact.
The zone covers most of continental Europe. France and Italy want stronger border checks to control 25,000 new migrants from North Africa.
Stormont runs
Two UK-wide Eurosceptic parties contested the Assembly poll but with few returns. Six UKIP candidates gained 4,152 first preferences, the most successful being Henry Reilly in South Down (2,332 votes). Reilly, a Kilkeel man who defected from the UUP in 2007, was re-elected as the party’s sole Northern Ireland councillor. The BNP received 1,252 votes.
Italian dairy links
Jim Nicholson and Italian MEP Paolo De Castro have exchanged visits to consult the dairy industry about its future in Europe. De Castro chairs the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee. Nicholson addressed a conference of Italian dairy farmers in Cremona, in northern Italy. De Castro spoke at the UFU’s AGM, and visited AFBI and a dairy farm outside Lurgan.
Cadmium ban
From December, the metal cadmium will be banned from all jewellery products in the EU because of its carcinogenic effect, the Commission has announced. An exception has been made for antiques. Some imports of costume jewellery contained a high presence of the chemical. Children, in particular, were at risk through skin contact or eating objects. Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani said this was “positive news for consumers, as well as for industry, since it has already developed alternatives to this substance.”
