25/06/2026 | 17:51:24 Thank you, President. Can I begin by acknowledging Ms Laura CASTEL's exhaustive and detailed work to produce a quality report which has the support of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. I had very constructive exchanges with Ms Laura CASTEL throughout the process. And I also want to acknowledge the great work of my colleague from the Secretariat of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, Ms Jannick DEVAUX. Our Committee proposed a... 24/06/2026 | 17:56:58 Thank you President. At the outset, I wish to begin obviously by congratulating the Rapporteurs, but specifically by agreeing with the earlier view of Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS that Georgia is heading for totalitarian dictatorship and indeed the view of Ms Laura CASTEL that boycotting a parliament is not the best tactic and the view of my colleague from the United Kingdom (UK) who said that targeted sanctions are required. In December 2025, my compatriot, Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Michael... 23/06/2026 | 18:43:14 Thank you, President. Congratulations to our rapporteurs. The main conclusion of the report before us is that there is a clear abuse and non-existence of law rights in Iran. This is manifested in mass arrests of protesters, detention without trial, abuse, torture and extensive use of the death penalty. This systematic suspension of human rights is wrong. The report correctly recommends that our government should be proactive, as must our Council of Europe through the Parliamentary Assembly of... 29/01/2026 | 19:54:06 Thank you, Madam President. It falls to me now to make a few valedictory remarks. I want at the outset to thank our professional colleague from the Monitoring Committee Secretariat, Ms Agnieszka NACHILO, for her incisive intellect and her academic prowess that she brought to bear professionally on our work. I want to thank my colleague Ms Sibel ARSLAN, who was an excellent co-rapporteur. The North Macedonian delegation who showed us nothing but courtesy and painstaking efforts to give us... 29/01/2026 | 19:12:50 In terms of preventing and controlling corruption, the authorities have implemented numerous measures to fulfil the recommendations of the Group of States Against Corruption. Nevertheless, corruption remains widespread throughout the public sector, suggesting that the measures taken so far have not been effective. The State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption is doing its utmost to investigate corruption and report on cases of conflict of interest, but it still lacks the technical... 28/01/2026 | 11:17:40 Thank you (off mic), President, As I rise to speak, as I rise to speak on this excellent report, I am proud to have been involved in youth participation projects, bringing youth organisations and individuals from Ireland here to the Hemicycle in Strasbourg and to a subsequent youth conference in Rome. The late, great Baroness Doreen E. Massey from the UK and Ms Elena Bonetti from Italy were centrally involved then too. We need a well-informed, motivated, idealistic, active youth as a bulwark... 27/01/2026 | 18:22:31 Thank you, President. We must, at the start, we must maintain strong diplomatic efforts to achieve peace and an immediate ceasefire. And those diplomatic efforts should include the leadership of the Council of Europe, obviously. The diplomatic efforts must be paralleled by strict enforcement of the targeted sanctions already in place. We should constantly review the sanctions and increase and improve the sanctions. And we will have to make personal sacrifices where necessary to achieve that... 24/06/2025 | 17:21:18 Thank you, President. This crucial debate arises from Resolution 2598 of 2025 dealing with the need to ensure accountability and avoid impunity for Russia on foot of its illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine. This Resolution welcomes the commitment by the core group of participants involving over 40 countries in the Lviv Statement of 9 May 2025, expressing political support for the draft legal texts establishing the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine within the... 10/04/2025 | 15:43:28 Thank you, President. I am honoured to speak on behalf of the Group of the European People's Party. At the outset, may I again stress our abhorrence of 7 October 2023 Hamas atrocities. We are equally abhorrent of the completely disproportionate and obscene Israeli response. We have had 18 months of genocide, physical destruction of schools, hospitals and universities and thousands and thousands of homes raised to the ground. The greatest victims are women and children. This is confirmed by... 28/01/2025 | 17:34:34 Could I begin, Mister President, by congratulating my colleague Fiona on that fine address? Might I, first of all, welcome the report and again say that its focus is on the humanitarian situation, with particular reference to women and children. Ireland welcomes the agreement and the ceasefire, as do all right-thinking people here. We are glad that food entered Gaza on Sunday, 19 January after months of blocking. We cannot escape the reality – and the tragic reality – that 43 000 lives were...