Update from Aodhán in Brussels - May 2025 - The Labour Party
It has been a hectic, fast-moving year, and the Parliament is now operating at full speed. Committees are getting busier and reports that will shape EU policy over the coming years are well underway. I want to give a quick update on what I have achieved since my election.
I split my time almost evenly between Dublin and Brussels/Strasbourg. The most important aspect of my job is to connect my work in the EU to the people who sent me here – the people of Dublin. I campaigned hard on improving the lives of Dubliners in a tangible way, turning the Labour Party’s vision for a more just, fair and compassionate Europe into reality.
The single biggest issue I campaigned on was housing. We promised that we would deliver an EU Commissioner for Housing. They told us it wasn’t possible, but through the S&D we did it. We were told that housing policy was a national competence and that the EU had no role in the housing crisis, but it does. The new EU Housing Committee proves just that.
I have been appointed as the S&D Group lead negotiator for the European Parliament’s Housing Report. This is a huge honour and responsibility to take practical steps to deliver real change. There are three main things we are trying to achieve.
1: Tackling homelessness and in particular family homelessness through focusing on prevention measures, investing in Housing First, and stronger tenant protections.
2: Strengthening tenant rights through EU wide measures such as a no-fault eviction ban, rent price regulation, controls on short-term rentals and standardised security of tenure – all within the EU’s sweeping consumer rights competency.
3: The relaxation of state aid rules to allow governments and local authorities to massively invest in housing, increasing the supply of social and affordable homes.
With a Danish S&D comrade Dan Jorgenson as the Housing Commissioner, there is real reason to be optimistic. Unfortunately, the lead for the report as a whole is from the right wing European People’s Party, which is Fine Gael’s group. Their major obsession is with squatting, so we have a considerable task ahead of us when the first draft of the report lands in September.
To do everything I can to ensure the EU takes real action on family homelessness and the root causes of poverty, I’m also leading the S&D Group’s work on updating the EU Anti-Poverty strategy in the Employment Committee. Falling under the mandate of S&D Commissioner Roxana Minzatu, I am building a coalition with other progressive groups within the Parliament to push for the most ambitious plan possible and ring fence a €20bn Child Guarantee to tackle child poverty. I’ll be ensuring the EU acts to increase wages, tackle the cost of living crisis, and ensure access to housing, healthcare and education for all.
As well as housing and poverty, I have been working tirelessly to pressurise the EU to act and stop the genocide in Gaza. I’ve spoken in every plenary debate on the issue, and have met the Palestinian Ambassador to the EU, officials from UNRWA, and Palestinian activists involved in the ICJ case against Israel. I have written multiple amendments to EU legislation to protect funding for UNRWA and submitted questions and letters calling for the termination of the EU-Israel Association Agreement to the European Commission and HRVP Kaja Kallas. It is truly shameful that so little has been done before now. I do finally believe that the EU is being dragged to the point of action by the inescapable scale of the vile actions of the Israeli Government, but I fear the actions will be wholly inadequate in the face of the evolving catastrophe. I was in Leinster House to support the Labour Party motion on Gaza and will continue to do whatever I can.
On progressive drug reform, I’m bringing the fight for a health-led approach to addiction to the European level. Starting with a visit to Lisbon to meet the architects of Portugal’s model, I’m working with Tony Duffin and my S&D colleagues to build a network of MEPs and organisations committed to decriminalising drug users.
To help turn some of the damage of Brexit into something constructive, I’ve been appointed by the S&D as their lead on an opinion to the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. I’m using this role to fight for the rights of Irish citizens in the North and am working closely with our sister party, the SDLP, who now sit as observers in the S&D Group meeting.
On football, I have met with the team of the EU Commissioner for Sport, Glenn Micallef, and am working to make EU funding available to support football for women and girls as well as for projects in disadvantaged areas.
When I’m back in Dublin, I have been canvassing and visiting schools and community groups. I hope to expand that over the next year and tie in with councillors in Dublin and indeed across the country.
I am so proud to represent the Labour Party in Europe and am eternally grateful for the support my team and I have received from Party members, councillors, activists, head office staff and the PLP.
I look forward to seeing you all campaigning over the next 4 years on the streets and at events.
– Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Dublin MEP