Chinese diplomats and Barbados ambassadors: Who have Irish MEPs been meeting?
The main cafe in the
European Parliament
in Brussels is a good politician-watching spot for journalists, lobbyists, and, likely, the occasional foreign spy.
There is a steady flow of MEPs walking towards the parliament chamber nearby, or to some meeting. Advisers and other staff also regularly pass through, turning the row of tables and chairs into a wind tunnel of political gossip. For the price of a coffee, you can usually pick up a fair bit of information if you hang around chatting.
I've yet to happen across one of the 14 Irish MEPs sitting down with any interesting characters here. That said, members of the European Parliament are required to publish a log of all the lobbyists, interest groups and other representatives they meet, so I don't have to camp out by the parliament cafe to see who has caught their ear.
The ambassador of Barbados, Nicolla Simone Rudder, discussed relations between the Caribbean island and the EU with Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly in Brussels last month
Irish MEPs found time to chat to Chinese diplomats, associations of football supporters, tech and pharmaceutical lobbyists, and politicians from the disputed territory of Western Sahara, logs show.
READ MORE
The ambassador of Barbados, Nicolla Simone Rudder, discussed relations between the Caribbean island and the EU with long-time Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly in Brussels last month. They mainly spoke about an EU law combating money laundering, said a spokesman for Kelly.
Kelly had sit-downs with Facebook-owner Meta and the
Irish Farmers' Association (IFA)
, entries you might expect to see in any Irish MEPs' diary. The IFA and other farming lobby groups appeared regularly in the meeting logs of most Irish representatives.
Perhaps more unusual was a meeting Kelly had with the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums to talk about animal protection laws.
Fine Gael's Regina Doherty met representatives from Twitter, Intel, banking firm JPMorgan Chase and payment app Revolut
Many of Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews's meetings related to his role as head of the European Parliament's development committee. Logs show he met Irish aid charity association Dóchas, the World Bank, Oxfam, the Belgian development agency and Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares, among others.
Fine Gael's Regina Doherty met representatives from Twitter, Intel, banking firm JPMorgan Chase and payment app Revolut, logs of her meetings show.
Records show the European Football Supporters Association spoke to Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan to drum up support for its campaign to require stadiums to provide free drinking water during matches.
Representatives of indigenous communities in Colombia, and politicians from Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, who claim sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, also raised their cause with Boylan.
Records show Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen met Chinese diplomat Wang Jin, who oversees parliamentary affairs, to talk about trade last December
The Dublin MEP had a large number of meetings focusing on Israel's war in Gaza, including with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Unicef and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees Unrwa.
The diary of Independent Ireland MEP
Ciaran Mullooly
had a more local hue. The former broadcaster reported meeting organisations representing Irish fish producers and forestry owners, a Co Offaly group opposing a wind farm in Lemanaghan, Edenderry GAA club, a local development association from Kilcormac, Co Offaly, and officials in Roscommon County Council.
Mullooly did log a meeting he had with Brussels-based diplomats from the Chinese government last year, to discuss dairy tariffs.
Records show Fianna Fáil MEP
Barry Cowen
met Chinese diplomat Wang Jin, who oversees parliamentary affairs, to talk about trade last December.
Cowen, who sits on the agriculture committee, said he was 'always open' to growing new markets for Irish farmers. 'From past experience, I've always found Chinese officials to be pragmatic and focused when it comes to trade and co-operation,' he said.
The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, European Horse Network, and Horse Sport Ireland were among those hosted by Fine Gael MEP Nina Carberry, a former jockey and thoroughbred breeder.
The pharmaceutical industry has been very active in the parliament, opposing EU reforms that would attach more conditions to the length of time companies can exclusively sell new medicines they develop, without competition from generic drugmakers.
Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher was a regular port of call for pharma lobbyists, records show. Kelleher, whose electoral base in Cork hosts a lot of pharmaceutical firms, met representatives from Pfizer, Eli Lilly, MSD, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson and others.
Fine Gael's Maria Walsh spoke about cyberbullying and online deepfake videos with TikTok and covered some of the same ground with Snapchat, logs show.
Google, Amazon, chip giant Nvidia, and ChatGPT developers OpenAI, all met Independent MEP Michael McNamara from Ireland South
As co-chairman of a parliament working group on artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, lots of tech companies have been knocking on Michael McNamara's door. Google, Amazon, chip giant Nvidia, and ChatGPT developers OpenAI, all met the Independent MEP from Ireland South.
McNamara also reported meeting the ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to discuss the Central Asian country's trade with the EU. The former Clare TD said he had an interest in the region due to human rights and democratisation work he was involved in 20 years ago, when he was with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The only Irish MEP who had not published details of their meetings was Labour's Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. A spokesman said the omission was an administrative oversight that would soon be corrected.
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