EU commissioner has not (yet) withdrawn 'insensitive' remarks about Ireland, Sinn Féin MEP says
Muiris O'Cearbhaill
reports from Brussels
SINN FÉIN MEP Kathleen Funchion has not received any correspondence from the EU's foreign affairs commissioner after she called on Kaja Kallas to withdraw remarks she made about Ireland last week.
Kallas, during a debate ahead of this week's Nato summit in Brussels, claimed got that Ireland got to 'build up their prosperity' following World War II while the rest of Europe experienced 'atrocities, mass deportations, suppression of our culture and language'.
During the same debate earlier,
Funchion had criticised the increased debates and discussions on war and conflict, suggesting that the EU should instead focus on its original role as a peace project
.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels today, after the Midlands North West MEP on Thursday called for the remarks to be withdrawn, Funchion said that she has not heard back from Kallas.
She added: 'I really was taken aback by the comments… For her to actually single us out like that, I thought was really bad form, first of all. Second, she was completely wrong in what she was saying.'
Advertisement
Funchion noted that the letter was only sent a number of days prior to today's event. She hopes that to hear from the European Commission Vice President with an apology and that she accepts an invitation to visit Northern Ireland.
Last week, Funchion said Kallas' comments were 'ill-advised and deeply insensitive to the experiences of Irish communities still seeking justice to this day'.
'Delighted' by Varadkar comments
The Sinn Féin MEP was also
asked about former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's recent comments in support of a United Ireland
, who said he would sacrifice economic growth for the reunification of the island.
Funchion said: 'Really delighted to see that… I really welcome [it]. You're going to expect that people from Sinn Féin will talk about a United Ireland, but I will always welcome people from other sectors saying [it] too.'
She pushed back on the suggestion that reunification would cause economic hardship, adding that the EU could have a role to play in a transitionary process or in the development of the region.
Responding to questions by
The Journal
, Funchion said that through her work on the UK-EU plenary group and correspondence with colleagues, members of the public in Northern Ireland are represented.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Learn More
Support The Journal
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Agriland
an hour ago
- Agriland
12 EU member states want animal-sourced food names protected
12 EU member states have supported a call for the European Commission to introduce protections on traditional animal-sourced food names so they cannot be used on plant-based food labels. The delegation from the Czech Republic presented a paper on the issue at a meeting of agriculture ministers in the Council of the EU this week. The Czech paper was supported by 11 other member states, including Ireland. The document said that the food market in the EU is increasingly composed of products that consist only of plant-based ingredients and are similar in appearance, taste and consistency to products of animal origin. These plant-based foods are very often labelled with the names belonging to meat, eggs, honey, fish, and products made from them. However, the paper said that plant-based products differ substantially from food products of animal origin, particularly in terms of composition and nutritional value. The Czech submission said that it is 'essential' that foods which imitate, mimic or substitute foods of animal origin do not mislead the consumer by their labelling as to their true nature. Protection of names is already in place for products for the dairy sector. However, no other protection of food names is in place at EU level for other animal-sourced products, and some member states are considering the introduction of reserved names for other food of animal origin at national level. The member states involved in the paper are calling for 'harmonisation of legal protection' to be provided on food names. They are seeking a legislative proposal from the commission to protect the names of animal origin, providing them with similar protection that already exists for milk and dairy products. The pressure on the commission to protect names of animal-sourced food has been welcomed by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA). ICMSA president Denis Drennan claimed that the inclusion of terms such a 'sausage' or 'burger' in vegetarian or vegan foods 'was deliberate and cynical'. He said that the 'hijakcing' of traditional meat and dairy terms 'actually constitutes an admissions by the corporations involved that they were unable to convince consumers other than by such camouflage'. 'Obviously, people are free to eat whatever they want but it is a matter of considerable irritation to farmers to see the very people and corporations who want to replace our naturally produced meat and dairy with their own non-meat and non-dairy products very deliberately using the terms that they know are generally understood to refer to traditional dairy and meat products,' Drennan said. 'They want to use our terminology and the acceptance borne of centuries that those terms have amongst the general public to effectively smuggle their own products past a sceptical public.' The ICMSA president said it is 'no longer tenable to allow non-dairy and non-meat products to advertise and promote themselves using terms and language associated with the traditional foods these vegetarian and vegan products are attempting to supplant'. 'It's self-evidently wrong that products that contain not a trace of meat are being sold as 'sausage' or 'burger' and being marketed in this disingenuous way. These corporations…are quite deliberately playing on people's desire for healthy, traditional, meat-based foodstuffs while actually substituting real meal ingredients with cheaper and more processed vegetable and plant-derived elements,' Drennan said.
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Thousands to descend on Glastonbury Festival as Worthy Farm opens its gates
Thousands of people will descend on Glastonbury as the famous music festival in Somerset opens its gates for 2025. Campers arriving at Worthy Farm in Pilton can expect a mixed bag of sunshine and rain throughout the week with "with sunny spells and scattered showers expected throughout the day" on Wednesday, according to forecasters. This year's event will see headline performances from British rock/pop band The 1975, veteran singer Neil Young and his band the Chrome Hearts, and US pop star Olivia Rodrigo. Irish rap trio Kneecap are set to play Glastonbury's West Holts stage on Saturday after one of their members was charged with a terror offence. Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year. Last week the 27-year-old, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in "Free Mo Chara" T-shirts. He was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on 20 August. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the group's performance at the festival, taking place on the West Holts Stage at 4pm on Saturday, is not "appropriate" and Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said she thought the BBC "should not be showing" Kneecap's performance. Performing in the coveted Sunday tea-time legends slot this year is Rod Stewart who previously said he will be joined by his former Faces band member Ronnie Wood, as well as some other guests. His performance is to come after the Maggie May singer postponed a string of concerts in the US, due to take place this month, while he recovered from flu. Organiser Emily Eavis has said the festival, which has capacity for 210,000 people, has sold "a few thousand less tickets" this year in a bid to avoid overcrowding. In an appearance on the Sidetracked podcast, Eavis outlined the changes that have been made to this year's festival and said music area Shangri-La is "going full trees and green space" which is "completely the opposite to anything they've done in the past". Among the acts expected to draw large crowds this year is alternative pop star Charli XCX, who will perform songs from her genre-defining sixth studio album Brat. She is performing on Saturday night on the Other Stage, 15 minutes before the West Holts stage is graced by US rapper Doechii, another artist who has exploded in popularity in the last year. Other performers include Irish singer CMAT, Prada singer Raye, US musician Brandi Carlile, Nile Rodgers and Chic, hip-hop star Loyle Carner, US pop star Gracie Abrams, indie outfit Wet Leg, Mercury Prize-winning jazz quintet Ezra Collective, US rapper Denzel Curry, and rising star Lola Young. The line-up also features a number of acts listed as TBA, as well as a mysterious act called Patchwork, who will take to the Pyramid Stage on Saturday. This year the BBC will provide live streams of the five main stages – Pyramid, Other, West Holts, Woodsies and The Park. On Wednesday at 10pm the festival will open with a theatre and circus act set in the Pyramid Arena which will showcase acrobatic and circus performances, culminating in a fireworks display.
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
US strikes failed to destroy Iran's nuclear sites, intelligence report says
US airstrikes did not destroy Iran's nuclear capability and only set it back by a few months, according to a preliminary US intelligence assessment, as a shaky ceasefire brokered by US president Donald Trump took hold between Iran and Israel. Earlier on Tuesday, both Iran and Israel signaled that the air war between the two nations had ended, at least for now, after Trump publicly scolded them for violating a ceasefire he announced at 5am Irish time. As the two countries lifted civilian restrictions after 12 days of war - which the US joined with an attack on Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities - each sought to claim victory. Trump said over the weekend that the US deployment of 30,000-pound bombs had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program. But that claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial assessment by one of his administration's intelligence agencies, according to three people familiar with the matter. One of the sources said Iran's enriched uranium stocks had not been eliminated, and the country's nuclear program, much of which is buried deep underground, may have been set back only a month or two. Iran says its nuclear research is for civilian energy production. The White House said the intelligence assessment was "flat out wrong." According to the report, which was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities, but did not collapse underground buildings, said one of the people familiar with its findings. Some centrifuges still remained intact after the attacks, the Washington Post said, citing an unnamed person familiar with the report. Trump's administration told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that its weekend strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities had "degraded" Iran's nuclear program, short of Trump's earlier assertion that the facilities had been "obliterated." FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP, File) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the attack on Iran had removed the threat of nuclear annihilation and was determined to thwart any attempt by Tehran to revive its weapons program. "We have removed two immediate existential threats to us: the threat of nuclear annihilation and the threat of annihilation by 20,000 ballistic missiles," Netanyahu said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country had successfully ended the war in what he called a "great victory," according to Iranian media. Pezeshkian also told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Tehran was ready to resolve differences with the US, according to official news agency IRNA. Israel launched the surprise air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq. Iran, which denies trying to build nuclear weapons, retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities. 'GREAT VICTORY' Israel's military lifted restrictions on activity across the country at 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), and officials said Ben Gurion Airport, the country's main airport near Tel Aviv, had reopened. Iran's airspace likewise will be reopened, state-affiliated Nournews reported. A White House official said Trump brokered the ceasefire deal with Netanyahu, and other administration officials were in touch with the Iranian government. This Tuesday, June 24, 2025, satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damage at Fordo enrichment facility after strikes in Iran on June 23. (Maxar Technologies via AP) The truce appeared fragile: Both Israel and Iran took hours to acknowledge they had accepted the ceasefire and accused each other of violating it. Trump scolded both sides but aimed especially stinging criticism at Israel, telling the close US ally to "calm down now." He later said Israel called off further attacks at his command. Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said he told his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, that his country would respect the ceasefire unless Iran violated it. Pezeshkian likewise said Iran would honor the ceasefire as long as Israel did, according to Iranian media. Whether the Israel-Iran truce can hold is a major question given the deep mistrust between the two foes. But Trump's ability to broker a ceasefire showed Washington retains some leverage in the volatile region. Israeli armed forces chief of staff Eyal Zamir said a "significant chapter" of the conflict had concluded but the campaign against Iran was not over. He said the military would refocus on its war against Iran-backed Hamas militants in Gaza. Iran's military command also warned Israel and the US to learn from the "crushing blows" it delivered during the conflict. Protestors carry Iranian national flags and posters of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while chanting anti-US and Israel slogans, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Iranian authorities said 610 people were killed in their country by Israeli strikes and 4,746 injured. Iran's retaliatory bombardment killed 28 people in Israel, the first time its air defenses were penetrated by large numbers of Iranian missiles. Oil prices plunged and stock markets rallied worldwide in a sign of confidence inspired by the ceasefire, which allayed fears of disruption to critical oil supplies from the Gulf. CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS? Earlier in the day, Trump admonished Israel with an obscenity in an extraordinary outburst at an ally whose air war he had joined two days before by dropping massive bunker-buster bombs on Iran's underground nuclear sites. Before departing the White House en route to a NATO summit in Europe, Trump told reporters he was unhappy with both sides for the ceasefire breach but particularly frustrated with Israel, which he said had "unloaded" shortly after agreeing to the deal. "I've got to get Israel to calm down now," Trump said. Iran and Israel had been fighting "so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing." President Donald Trump arrives at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport ahead of the NATO summit, taking place in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Netanyahu's office acknowledged Israel bombed a radar site near Tehran in what it said was retaliation for Iranian missiles fired three-and-a-half hours after the ceasefire was due to begin. It did not explicitly say whether the strike on the radar site took place before or after they spoke. The Islamic Republic denied launching any missiles and said Israel's attacks had continued for an hour-and-a-half beyond the time the truce was meant to start. "Who mediated or how it happened doesn't matter," said Reza Sharifi, 38, heading back to Tehran from Rasht on the Caspian Sea, where he had fled with his family. "The war is over. It never should have started in the first place." - Reuters Read More World leaders gather to discuss defence amid Israel-Iran tensions
