Thomas Pringle TD
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Pringle focuses on Ireland’s neutrality, fishing losses as EU anniversary is marked

Pringle focuses on Ireland’s neutrality, fishing losses as EU anniversary is marked

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said Europe should acknowledge how Ireland was ‘hoodwinked’ over its fish stocks when the country became an EU member.

Addressing the joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas today, Deputy Pringle said: “The purpose of today is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of our membership of the European Union.

“It would be nice to have Europeans here thanking us for our total contribution of fish to the EU that far outweighs any help and value of money that we have received from Europe since then.

“Acknowledging that we have been hoodwinked over the years, even to this day, when France, Spain, Belgium and a host of other EU countries have more entitlement to our fish stocks than we have would be welcome and would at least make us believe that the EU was interested in what we have to say.

“Of course, the European Union has always had plenty of our ruling parties to help them along the way. We are guilty of assisting in our own denigration as well, unfortunately,” he said.

Deputy Pringle spoke after the address to the joint sitting by European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola.

Deputy Pringle said: “Now our ruling parties are going to happily get rid of our neutrality over the next few years and we will become an integral part of the European empire, and I wonder what the parliament has to say about that.

“But then the European Parliament will not have a role in defence. That has been left totally to the unelected European Commission, who only are required to inform the parliament that they are going to war,” he said.

The deputy said: “It’s also interesting that you are from another neutral member state of the union. I hope it’s not in name only.

“Does your government carry on the same as our Irish government, and happily undermine neutrality at every opportunity? Or perhaps the Maltese government has more backbone and will defend what its citizens believe,” he said.