EuropeanIrish.com News Stories

Wouldn’t it be great to hear more about top Irish sports stars who are competing for Ireland all across the Continent.

EuropeanIrish.com will feature any sport and all age groups too, if you are Irish and competing in Europe – you are just as important as the Irish Senior soccer team or Munster Rugby, or the Olympic Athletes.EuropeanIrish.com wants to hear from you all - simply visit http://www.europeanirish.com/ News and add the News story.

or maybe you are based in Europe and run a club or a member of one which features a number of irish players, - if you have a news story add it.The Irish in Europe would love to read about it.

The first ever survey about Irish people in Europe is being conducted.

If You are Irish and are based in or moving to Continental Europe -

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Please forward this email to every Irish person you know living in Europe. 
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http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=c_2bbUKK6N36zUdjY5Fx1FKA_3d_3d

What are the best and hardest things about living in Europe ?
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This survey is specifically about you - Irish people living in Continental Europe.

If you know of any Irish person living anywhere in Continental Europe , please send this survey to him or her today.
If you know many Irish People living in Europe, please send this to them all. This very important survey about you and for you,  and is finishing this week. If you are Irish in Europe - now you can get your say. Click Here to take survey - Have You taken the survey yet? 

Thanks in Advance
Siasy Collins

Why not? It’s only since last January Gaeilge was a recognised Euro language so why not G.A.A. as an Olympic sport. It would make an interesting proposition. It might make an interesting catagory too, Gaelic football alongside Sumo wrestling, Thai kick-boxing, Aussie Rules & Turkish mud wrestling. This could be a major contribution to understanding the Irish psyche. Anyone who ever ate a kebab knows this.

As a child of the 50’s I well recognise the dilemma posed by playing G.A.A. It was called a ’code’ & having played the various sports on the menu, ’code’ was about right, because the rules would baffle the breakers of the Da Vinci Code.

On Sunday I played for Ballymun Kickhams, kickhams by name & nature because we kicked everything & everyone that came within arms-length, legs-length to be more precise though the odd dig in the ear was allowed. The team did have Fran Ryder, a future captain of the Dublin team I believe, who had a deft left-foot & great vision of play, along with some sort of familial gig that stopped one of the great could-have-beens in what was then labelled a ‘foreign’ game. Rule 26 I think .. He could land a ball on your nose from 50 yards but Rule 26 did’nt recognise noses.

On Monday I was disbarred from playing because I had been ‘reported’ for playing a  ‘foreign’ game. Rule 26 if I remember rightly. I had been ’seen’ carrying a Rugby ball. I had just bought an Easter Egg for my Ma. Had my Easter Egg had an Easter Lilly I’d have been o.k. but I was into football. Gardening was not on my must-do list.

On Wednesday I was convened before a ‘panel’ who wanted to know if I was a communist. Along with the Rugby ball/Easter Egg I had also been ’seen’ carrying a Beatles L.P. I had failed to understand that such an action was also contrary to Rule 26 .. such behavior rendered me liable to accusations of being ’a fierce mad dog & a west brit’ tho all I knew was The Beatles were a lot better than John McCormack, singing about his dead mudder .. or words to that effect .. it was actually something O’Dwyer, one of whose sons later engineered the Rolling Stones. He had’nt heard about Rule 26 either by the sound of things .. more ‘foreign games’ ..

That same year Mick O’Connell, the Man From Valencia, Valencia Island, as featured on global weather reports, not Valencia as in Spain, was also ’seen’ attending a game in Cork, Cork Hibernian to be accurate .. not only was he ’seen’ but a long-lens shot of him in the crowd was on the front page of all the national papers. The witch-burners had a field day. Phones were ringing at H.Q. It was akin to some sort of crisis of faith, that a man of such grace & power should be seen at a ‘foreign’ game, let alone even looking at it. Declarations from the pulpit were expected. We were suddenly aware, us 50’s kids, that we were living under a kind of Sharia Law, a mixum-gatherum of Fr. Reilly & a sports monopoly. Quare times .. 

The rest is history, or hysterics more like. Brush Shields released an album Paddy’s Dead & The Kids Know It  & life went on, sort of ..  Years later Heffo’s Army [ Army not Kids ] made some progress at retrieving the persona of the G.A.A. from that of a gang of culture thugs into some kind of Vox Populi but the damage was done. Our local heroes were Billy Whelan, John Giles & George Best .. not Finbar McChruiskeen & Joe Stafford, & Joe was a friend of my Da so don’t come the hound over that reference. Finbar McChruiskeen is a construct with no athletic validity, borrowed heavily from Flann O’Brien, another weirdo like Sean O’Riada & Brendan Behan & others too many to mention, who suffered under the Rule 26 mentality. You could do worse than include Mick O’Connell in the weirdo list.

G.A.A. sports as an Olympic sport? Why not? Along with the Jamaican bobsleigh team, the Iranian Women’s gymnasts, the Papua New Guinea dwarf-throwing team & the Sudanese teddybear-naming team. Why not? Is Micheal O’Murcharteagh still about? Imagine Coo coo agus cooleen amhain go tSomalia! [Connemeara dialect] resounding around the arena!! Shli amach a fear!

You know this makes sense. You can’t say you’re Irish & not know this. I live in The Netherlands now & the word here is Rowing With Spoons & Pushing The Elephant Up The Stairs as Olympic sports. Why not?

Don’t say you were’nt warned. 

EP News

Plenary Session ( Brussels )

28-29 November 2007

How to combine social security for employees and flexibility for employers?

On Wednesday, the European Parliament will vote on a report by Danish MEP Ole Christensen which comments on the European Commission’s recent Communication on ‘More and better jobs through flexibility and security’.  On behalf of the Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee, Mr Christensen’s report highlights the need for a well-educated and adaptable workforce in the EU. The report agrees that ‘flexibility can be in the interests of the employee as well as the employer’, but it emphasises that the policy of ‘flexicurity’ (a combination of labour market flexibility and social security for the employee) ’should be based on common values that underpin the European Social Model’.  MEPs call on EU Heads of State and Government at the next summit meeting of the European Council (December 2007) to “adopt a balanced set of common principles of flexicurity”, which would include “core rights for all workers regardless of their employment status”, adaptable but reliable contracts coupled with action against abusive labour practices, measures to reconcile work and private life, gender equality and equal opportunities.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Marian Harkin ( Ind. - North West ); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South); Mary Lou McDonald (SF - Dublin ); Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ) 

Quality of tourism in the EU

Italian MEP Paolo Costa has drafted a report on behalf of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism, which looks at tourism in the EU and the drawbacks associated with EU Member States interpreting the classification of accommodation for example (number of stars, etc.) differently.  The report argues that this and other difficulties have hampered growth in tourism across the EU.  MEPs claim that an EU-wide classification should be introduced with a standard EC quality mark.  The importance of accessibility for all is emphasised in the report, not only for accommodation, but also for museums, restaurants, etc.  Procedures relating to the issuing of visas to non-EU tourists are also dealt with in the report, although the recommendations focus primarily on the Schengen Member States. 

Irish MEPs on this issue: Liam Aylward (FF - East); Jim Higgins (FG - North West ); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South);

The EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights

This week’s Plenary Session in Brussels will begin on Wednesday with a debate about the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, to which the European Parliament has been asked to give its approval.  This Charter sets out the rights to which EU citizens are entitled and aims to ensure that in all of its activities, the EU institutions respect those rights.  The Charter will also apply in the EU’s Member States when EU law is being implemented.  Jo Leinen MEP, Chairperson of the Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee will recommend on Wednesday that the Parliament approves the Charter. 

Irish MEPs on this issue: Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South); Seán Ó Neachtain (FF - North West ); Marian Harkin ( Ind. - North West );

In addition:

The Future of Europe

Brian Crowley (FF - South), Mary Lou McDonald (SF - Dublin ); Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ) and Gay Mitchell (FG - Dublin ) will participate in the debate on the Future of Europe with the Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.  Marian Harkin ( Ind. - North West ) will also ask the Council of the EU about a consolidated text (one easy-to-read text) for the new Treaty.

Economic Partnership Agreements with the 78 ACP countries

Eoin Ryan (FF - Dublin) and Gay Mitchell (FG - Dublin) will speak during the discussion which will follow the European Commission’s statement on progress relating to the new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) currently being negotiated with 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.  The current agreements are due to expire at the end of this year.

Agricultural development and food security in Africa

Gay Mitchell (FG - Dublin ) and Kathy Sinnott ( Ind. - South) will participate in the debate on the European Parliament’s resolution on advancing African agriculture.

Railways

Jim Higgins (FG - North West ), Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South) and Bairbre De Brún (SF - Northern Ireland ) will speak during the debate on three reports dealing with the railway network in the EU.  The measures are aimed at revitalising the network by removing the obstacles to the free circulation of trains throughout the EU.

Court of Auditors

Mairéad McGuinness (FG - East) and Gay Mitchell (FG - Dublin ) will speak following the presentation of the Court of Auditors’ Annual Report for 2006.

Humanitarian Aid

Kathy Sinnott ( Ind. - South) and Gay Mitchell (FG - Dublin ) spoke during the debate on humanitarian aid which took place in Strasbourg earlier this month.  MEPs will vote on a resolution on this issue on Thursday.

Trade and Climate Change

Kathy Sinnott ( Ind. - South) and Bairbre De Brún (SF - Northern Ireland ) will participate in the debate on the role of trade policy in climate change.

Individual MEPs:

·         Avril Doyle (FG - East) will deliver a speech to the European Landowners Organisation on the links between climate change and biodiversity; she will also participate in a meeting of the Parliament’s working group on Islam.

·         Kathy Sinnott ( Ind. - South) will speak about the following issues which will be on the Agenda of this week’s Plenary Session - GM food and feed; medicinal products for human use; residue levels of pesticides in food or feed; export and import of dangerous chemicals.

·         Mairéad McGuinness (FG - East) will participate in the Agriculture Committee’s hearing on the CAP Health Check on Tuesday.

·         Mary Lou McDonald (SF - Dublin ) will participate in the debate on the forthcoming constitutional referendum in Venezuela .

Ministers have spoken in Irish 22 times at EU meetings since the language became an official one last January, while MEPs have used it about twice as often.

http://www.irishclub.be/display_news.php?ID=17

The European Commission Irish language website is up and running, however efforts to recruit at least 30 Irish language translators and interpreters at an annual cost of about E3.5 million have proven difficult.

There have been teething problems introducing the language to the European Union institutions over the last 10 months, Multi-lingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban is expected to tell representatives from a number of language organisations when they meet in Brussels today.
The meeting aims to assess how the integration of Irish as a working language is progressing within the different EU institutions and has been organised by MEP Sean O Neachtain, who is a native Irish speaker.

He said they would focus in particular on how recruitment of Irish interpreters, translators and jurist-linguists is proceeding.

There have been delays recruiting staff as few, if any, had the necessary qualifications to become a recognised EU translator of texts or interpreter of the spoken word.

This has been followed by a slow take-up of posts as some offered jobs did not want to move to Brussels while others just came for a short time on secondment.

There are also problems filling the posts of legal experts fluent in Irish who are required to translate complex text into Irish.

As a result, only those which are seen as essential texts are being translated.

A number of MEPs use Irish regularly including Jim Higgins, Proinsias De Rossa, Marian Harkin and Liam Aylward and Bairbre de Brun, a Sinn Féin MEP for Northern Ireland.

The Commission’s Irish language site is available at: http://europa.eu/index_ga.htm 

www.examiner.ie

ILBA / German-Irish Lawyers and Business Assocation
————————————————–

New trilingual website:
www.german-irish-lawyers.org

A network of lawyers, tax consultants, accountants and businesses
active in both Ireland and Germany

GILBA organises events regarding business and law in the EU throughout
the year

Next event
———-

7th of Dec:
Lunch-time lecture with EU Commisioner Charlie McCreevy in the
Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7

EP News Plenary Session ( Strasbourg ) 12-15 November 2007

In its key debate next week, the European Parliament will discuss a paper on “The European interest: succeeding in the age of globalisation“, which was presented to EU Heads of State and Government at the Lisbon summit last month.  The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, will set out the Commission’s views on this issue before the MEPs will discuss and vote on a resolution on this topic.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Mary Lou McDonald (SF - Dublin ); Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South)

 http://www.europeanirish.com/Living/mep.htm

http://www.europeanirish.com/Living/mep.htm

EP News Plenary Session ( Strasbourg ) 12-15 November 2007
continued…

Soil Protection

Two reports on soil protection will be discussed in a joint debate in the European Parliament on Monday evening. Spanish MEP Cristina Gutiérrez-Cortines will present a report on the first EU directive on soil protection and Italian MEP Vittorio Prodi will emphasise the need for a strategy on soil protection to combat floods, landslides, desertification and climate change in the EU.

At the moment, provisions relating to the EU’s policy on soil are divided between laws on waste, pesticides and nature protection.  The new law would combine all provisions relating to soil.  It would include the requirement to establish national inventories of contaminated sites, which would have to be updated at least every five years.  MEPs point to the additional potential benefit of regional inventories.  The law will also require that Member States put together strategies to improve the condition of such sites and identify key priorities for work in this area.  MEPs in the Parliament’s Environment Committee point to the need to ensure synergy between existing EU laws on ground water, nitrates, sewage sludge, waste and other areas.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Mairéad McGuinness (FG - East); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South); Avril Doyle (FG - East)

Stocktaking on Social Reality in the EU

On Thursday morning, British MEP Elizabeth Lynne will present a report on behalf of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee which calls on EU Member States and on the European Commission to pursue “an ambitious objective of reducing poverty, especially among working people.”  In this report, MEPs point out that EU Member States should increase their efforts to reduce poverty and social exclusion. The report highlights the issues of disabled workers and those on the minimum wage, it calls for the prevention of exploitation of illegal workers, child poverty and points to the importance of education in tackling poverty and of the rehabilitation of prisoners.  MEPs also state that EU Member States should end asylum seekers’ dependence on benefits by allowing them to work.

16% of the EU’s workforce is disabled; 78 million EU citizens live in poverty and 8% of EU citizens are suffering from in-work poverty.  In general terms, the gap between rich and poor in the EU is increasing.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ); Mary Lou McDonald (SF - Dublin ); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South); Marian Harkin ( Ind - North West );

EP News Plenary Session ( Strasbourg ) 12-15 November 2007

An EU strategy for the Bali conference on Climate Change

On Wednesday afternoon, Italian MEP Guido Sacconi will question the European Commission and the Council of the European Union on behalf of the Parliament’s Temporary Committee on Climate change about their strategies for the Bali Conference on Climate Change. This Conference (3-14 December) will mark the first step in building a post-2012 (post-Kyoto) framework to tackle climate change on a global level. During the debate which will follow, MEPs will call on the Commission and the Council to confirm Europe ’s leading role in climate protection.

On Thursday, MEPs will also vote on the European Parliament’s resolution for this Conference.  This resolution states that the long-term goals should centre on limiting average global temperature increase to below 2°C, which would mean that that by 2050, global greenhouse gases would have to be reduced by at least 50% compared to the 1990 level. The Parliament’s Committee on Climate Change insists that industrialised countries should commit themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% by 2030 and by at least 80% by 2050 compared to the emission levels of 1990. To achieve these goals MEPs propose to install a global “cap and trade” system, to set binding targets for all industrialised counties and to include emerging economies through fair and proportionate targets.  The Parliament’s resolution also emphasises that an agreement should be reached by 2009 at the latest.  The European Parliament will be sending a delegation to the Bali Conference.

Irish MEPs on this issue: Avril Doyle (FG - East); Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ); Kathy Sinnott ( Ind - South); Bairbre De Brún (SF - Northern Ireland )
 

EP News Plenary Session ( Strasbourg ) 12-15 November 2007 :

Include aviation sector in greenhouse gas emission trading scheme

On Monday evening, German MEP Peter Liese will present a report on behalf of the Parliament’s Environment Committee supporting the European Commission’s proposal to include aviation in the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), but calling for tougher CO2 emission limits and a stipulation that the ETS should include not just intra-EU flights, but also flights between the EU and third countries by 2010.

The greenhouse gases emitted by the European aviation industry increased by 87% in 2004 compared to 1990 levels. This increase is in stark contrast to the EU’s overall greenhouse gas reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol - 8%.  MEPs are arguing that ETS allowances for CO2 emissions should be limited to 75% of aircraft operators’ average annual emissions during 2004-2006 and not 100% as proposed by the European Commission.  MEPs propose that 50% of the emission permits should be allocated to aviation operators free of charge and that 50 % should be traded in the ETS in the initial stage. 

Irish MEPs on this issue: Avril Doyle (FG - East); Marian Harkin ( Ind - North West ); Bairbre De Brún (SF - Northern Ireland )

http://www.europeanirish.com/Living/mep.htm

EP News Plenary Session ( Strasbourg ) 12-15 November 2007 :

• More sport in schools to tackle child obesity
  Irish MEPs on this issue: Liam Aylward (FF - East); Kathy Sinnott ( Ind - South); Eoin Ryan (FF - Dublin )
• An EU strategy for the Bali conference on Climate Change

  Irish MEPs on this issue: Avril Doyle (FG - East); Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ); Kathy Sinnott ( Ind - South); Bairbre De Brún (SF - Northern Ireland )

• Soil Protection

  Irish MEPs on this issue: Mairéad McGuinness (FG - East); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South); Avril Doyle (FG - East)

• Stocktaking on Social Reality in the EU
  Irish MEPs on this issue: Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ); Mary Lou McDonald (SF - Dublin ); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South); Marian Harkin ( Ind - North West );
• The EU in the age of globalisation
  Irish MEPs on this issue: Mary Lou McDonald (SF - Dublin ); Proinsias De Rossa (Labour - Dublin ); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South)
• European Commission’s legislative and work programme for 2008.
  - Brian Crowley (FF - South); Mary Lou McDonald (SF - Dublin ); Mairéad McGuinness (FG - East);
• proposed new law on statistics in the areas of public health and health and safety at work
  - Avril Doyle (FG - East); Kathy Sinnott (Ind. - South)

Individual MEPs:

·         Brian Crowley (FF - South) will speak on the EU-Russia summit; he will also ask about measures to combat youth and long-term unemployment and the success of the new programme to combat drug importations from South America.

·         Jim Higgins (FG - North West ) will speak during the debate on the regional impact of earthquakes; he will ask the Commission about increasing road safety in developing countries and will ask the Council about the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

·         Eoin Ryan (FF - Dublin ) will ask the European Commission about levels of cocaine abuse in the EU and the EU response to the problem; he will also ask if it is not time to increase financial support to Sierra Leone .

·         Mairéad McGuinness (FG - East) will make a one-minute speech on the lack of accredited laboratories for medical testing and on the current crisis regarding misdiagnosis of medical conditions in Ireland; she will ask the Commission about the Economic Partnership Agreements with ACP countries and will ask the Council about the liberalisation of postal services.

·         Colm Burke (FG - South) will ask about the reform agenda in Turkey following the elections there and will speak about the new EU telecoms package; he will also host a visit from a group of his constituents.

·         Liam Aylward (FF - East) will speak about nuclear energy programmes; he will ask the European Commission about participants in the EU peacekeeping mission to Chad; and he will also ask the Council of the EU what structures are being put in place to ensure greater coordination between the EU and the USA in the field of climate change.

·         Kathy Sinnott ( Ind - South) will ask about cross-border collective copyright management.

·         Gay Mitchell (FG - Dublin ) will speak during the debates on accounting standards in the EU and on giving implementing powers to the Commission in the field of Economic and Monetary Affairs; he will also ask the Commission about slums and development and ask the Council about non-EU financial services.

·         Seán Ó Neachtain (FF - North West) will ask the Council of the EU how it will ensure that Research and Development Funds will be available to regions on the EU’s periphery; he will also ask what initiatives are being pursued by the European Commission to promote primary education in the developing world; and he will speak about the issue of digital interactive services.

·         Avril Doyle (FG - East) will ask the Commission about the recognition of horse passports and will ask the Council about the EU nationals’ repatriation fund.