21/04/2026 | 19:43:49 Thank you, Mister Chairperson. I join others in welcoming this very important report and indeed to note the many important things in it. Central, I think, is ensuring that the executive of state parties does not overly dominate the composition of national selection bodies. The vital importance of allowing civil society to be present during interviews at the national level of prospective candidates and, of course, the draft recommendation's important call on the Committee of Ministers to draw... 21/04/2026 | 18:36:01 Thank you very much. I think it was Abraham LINCOLN that, when somebody said to him that "God was on our side", he said something like. "I rather hope, gentlemen, that we are on God's side". When we talk about freedom of religion, freedom not to have a religion, and freedom to change one's religion, these are all vital components of a civilised and democratic society. What we must always work for is a healthy pluralism which doesn't seek to reduce religion or to confine it to the private... 30/01/2026 | 10:46:08 Thank you very much, Madam President. I might take this opportunity to congratulate you as well. On Tuesday, in reference to a debate on an education resolution, I pointed out that a resolution that mentioned up to 30 threats to young people, mostly related to internet access, but failed to mention pornography once, had its head in the sand, because this is in a week when we read that the European Commission has launched another investigation into X, this time over its AI tool being used to... 29/01/2026 | 18:26:12 Thank you, Mister President. Well, I find it surprising that only one person has defended or opposed each of these amendments. It does reinforce me in the belief that a small number of activists are driving this, being enabled really by a much larger group, who do not choose to speak. The sole consolation that I have is that the idea that we will be pushing at home is that now people, parents and professionals can work with children, and from trying to change them from gender dysphoria, they... 29/01/2026 | 17:18:22 "Thank you very much" [in French], Mister Chairman. We hear more and more about the danger of giving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones to children with gender dysphoria and the health and happiness-destroying effects of mutilating surgeries. Those are among the real conversion therapies. This report doesn't condemn those. Instead, it encourages a circling of the wagons around these practices, threatening to criminalise and exclude parents, teachers, counsellors and medical professionals... 28/01/2026 | 19:06:36 Thank you very much, Chairperson. Some constructive criticism: a resolution on education which mentioned schools 150 times, democracy 20 times and the word inclusive 34 times, but fails to mention parents, is inadequate, and no mention of the partnership with families so essential for socialisation in schools. A resolution that mentions up to 30 threats to young people mostly related to internet access and fails to mention pornography has its head in the sand. The total ignoring of the... 03/10/2025 | 12:01:04 Thank you, Chair. I want to address yesterday's attack in Manchester. Our thoughts must all be with the victims of this dreadful attack on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. This Assembly works to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law. But yesterday's events, on top of the many sorrows and outrages that we've been thinking about and discussing this week, must remind us that something more is needed. We must work for fraternity. We must pay close attention to the... 02/10/2025 | 19:06:38 Thank you very much. Can you hear me? Yes. Apologies. There is much to commend in both of these reports, but on the specific subject of the report on universal health coverage, it's a really, really important topic and it is vital that we would all share the view that the promotion of human health is, in a holistic way, an essential part of showing respect for human dignity. And universal health coverage is a very important topic. I'm sorry to say that there is one problem, however, with this... 26/06/2025 | 16:58:21 Thank you very much, Madam Vice-President. In Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Irish Constitution, Article 41.2 says something quite shocking. It says the state recognises that by her life within the home, a woman gives to the state support without which the common good cannot be achieved. If that were not shocking enough, in the next part, it goes on to commit the state to ensure that mothers shall not be required by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the... 24/06/2025 | 10:30:32 Mister President and friends and colleagues, The European Convention and the European Court of Human Rights are the jewels in the crown of the Council of Europe institutions. That idea can unite us all. But this open letter, written by nine member states of the European Union, has really led the Court, and indeed the Council of Europe, to arrive at what we might call a crisis moment, but also, to borrow a term from the ancient Greek, a kairos moment, a critical or opportune time for decision...