James Cox
Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh has labelled Sinn Féin’s comments on the Government’s decision to opt into the EU Migration Pact as out of the Brexit and “Trump playbook”.
Years of division over the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum appear to have ended after the European Parliament voted the changes through last week.
The new rules include controversial measures: facial images and fingerprints could be taken from children from the age of six, and people may be detained during screening.
It also includes measures on faster decision-making and the sharing of responsibility across member states, which could see relocation of international protection applicants or the payment of financial contributions to the EU.
The 27 EU countries must now endorse the reform package before it can take force, possibly in a vote in late April.
Maria Walsh, one of the Irish MEPs who worked on the Pact, said there are elements “that we need clarity on”, but defended the overall plan.
She also criticised some of the opposition rhetoric about the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.
Ms Walsh told BreakingNews.ie: “Sadly, we have people in opposition, particularly Sinn Féin’s messaging about the Pact, they were flip-flopping over Eurodac and other elements of the Pact they previously voted for.
‘Trump playbook’
“Using words like ‘sovereignty’ and ‘we must protect our borders’, that language was used in Brexit. It’s right out of the Brexit playbook, right out of the Trump playbook. I didn’t think as a country we would get to this point, but we’re here.
“We need to call it out and be practical and rational to the fact we cannot afford to follow the lines of Brexit or, in fact, where the opposition want us to go.”
While she acknowledged there are elements of the Pact that need to be amended, Ms Walsh said there will be room for stakeholders to discuss it.
“There are further elements that we need clarity on. That’s where we hold the [European] Commission and this next mandate to further account.
“We must adhere to international and EU laws, particularly regarding the fundamental rights of a person. Right now, we don’t have that evenly across the board.
“In my eyes, this Pact will be working with NGOs, individuals who have gone through the process for international protection and asylum. We have to hear from all these stakeholders to make sure we’re building something over the next few years that is fit for purpose.
“Without this, there would be continual issues like we saw with the camps in Lesbos, and other places like Turkey. We can’t be a hypocrite, we work with Turkey to make sure there is a balance of people coming in and out of the EU. But that’s not fit for purpose either, so if we’re going to do what this Pact needs to do, we need to ensure it’s built on the protection of a person regardless of what part of the world they are coming from.
“Something my colleagues and I have really been trying to stress is it has to be fair, fit for purpose, and has to work. Right now, no process is working.
“We can’t afford to continue to have this conversation given the fact there are multiple wars going on in the world, climate and famine atrocities, particularly in Africa, potential civil unrest again in South Africa, so we have movement of people, and we have an obligation to do what we have been trying to do… but not in solidarity to this point.
“Over the next two years, this will help to ensure we have a better integration system, a better communication style.”
A small minority of ant-immigrant campaigners have been staging protests, and vandalising buildings earmarked for asylum seekers, in recent times.
Ms Walsh said this is concerning, but added that communities she engages with are overwhelmingly welcoming to refugees.
“I have yet to meet a community, I’ve been covering a lot of them lately in the buildup to the elections, large or small, that have any issues welcoming new people in.
“I was recently in a community in Roscommon, because of Ukrainian people they had welcomed in, they were able to save a school in the community from closing.
“We also have to make sure we are stamping out, and holding people to account, when the loud minority who are creating this hate, this fear, and destroying buildings in response to something they are seeing online.
“A majority are very welcoming, exceptionally warm. The many small businesses I meet are in desperate need of people to come in to pick up the open jobs that they have.
“We have, as policymakers, a block of two years learning from mistakes of the past that communities are asking us for better communication and better integration processes. For me, this is where the EU is best in class for that.
“We need to learn from other countries with better integration systems. I think this Pact always us to be streamlined, to be fair, and to be quick, and ultimately to ensure that those we need protection are getting it.”
Fears have been expressed over the potential for far-right candidates to make big gains in the European elections on Friday, June 7th.
Ms Walsh said this is something she worries about.
“I’m 36, so I didn’t see the Troubles, I didn’t live through the war this peace process was built on. I see it on my social media channels, I see it in the United States, and I’m an American citizen. I see the clear divide in their politics.
“I worry, in the last couple of months as we veer towards the local and European elections, that we are hearing from leaders both at national, local and European level that are almost digesting clickbait, trying out different words, different sentences that are very polarised, ‘us v them’, anti-LGBTI, anti-minority groups. I have to do a job in making sure that I’m very clear in the information that’s out there, being pro-European but practical in what it looks like, and reiterating that over the past 50 years we have benefitted greatly from it. Yes, we do have challenges, but that doesn’t mean working within the EU isn’t good for us.
Extremists live on the left and the right, and you see it in their voting patterns where they meet.
“When you look at 500 million users our businesses can sell into, we have a bigger pot of money with the common agricultural policy, we live, work, study, love right across the EU. These are things we can’t take for granted.
“Extremists live on the left and the right, and you see it in their voting patterns where they meet, we see it from certain Irish MEPs here. That doesn’t mean we can continue to give them space because they’re causing damage.”
She added: “Minority groups are too often used as a political Whac-A-Mole. I’m an LGBTI individual. I’ve been in the Parliament to know that when certain individuals are about to speak about equality, that they do not recognise, respect or understand where I come from as a pro-LGBTI individual from Ireland. I have to work with them, I have to try to figure out a way so they aren’t stopping funding, creating issues, or inciting hate for fellow LGBTI individuals and they do.
“We have to wake up to the fact that we could end up in a block in the EU that is nowhere near where it started from. The movement of people seeking international protection cannot be used as a political game because ultimately they are the most vulnerable groups.”
Ms Walsh’s Midlands–North-West constituency is a highly competitive field, with five seats up for grabs. Candidates include the likes of Barry Cowen and Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fáil), Ciaran Mullooly (Independent), Peadar Tóibín (Aontú) and Rory Hearne (Social Democrats).
Ms Walsh has worked on a variety of issues in her first term including support for small businesses, rights of marginalised individuals, mental health issues, social affairs and tourism.
She is confident of being re-elected along with her colleague Nina Carberry, who is also running.
Fine Gael european election candidates Nina Carberry (left), Maria Walsh (centre) and Regina Doherty at the 82nd Fine Gael Ard Fheis at the University of Galway
“I worry that we’re going to elect people that don’t believe in the practicalities of Europe or working together. My job is to be of service to the community, ultimately that is my role as a politican. My job as a European MEP is to work on legislation, about 70 per cent of it impacts the country.
“We need to send pro-Europeans, people who want to live and work with people in the constituency too. I do three days in Brussels every week, four days across the constituency, so this campaign is nothing new to me.
“I’ve been back here every week talking to school groups, farmers, women in business. I have a proven track record and I hope people have trust in me.
“In 2019 a lot of people didn’t think we’d get the second seat and I’ve no doubt with a lot of hard work from Nina Carberry and myself we can take those seats again.
“The deliverance of an EU wide mental health strategy is my number one goal. We nearly had it in this mandate. In many ways between Covid, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the flow of legilsation, we missed the mark. For the first time we had a Commission president talk abotu mental health in her state of the union, we had a commissioner for health who was a child psychologist herself. Really importanr work was done on raising the mental health of citizens so I have unfinished work on that.”
