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IRELAND’S EMILY O’REILLY is set to celebrate her first anniversary of being appointed the European Ombudsman.
In her position O’Reilly has the responsibility of dealing with complaints that are brought forward about EU institutions by citizens, NGOs, associations and companies.
Speaking about her first year in the position, O’Reilly described the difficulties faced in dealing with bureaucracy: ”You have to be able to persuade, coax and cajole sometimes reluctant institutions to change long-standing mind-sets or to be more open in their decision making. This is where being an ombudsman can seem more like an art than a science.”
The position places O’Reilly at the interface between EU bureaucracy and public demand.
Another area identified as difficult after a year in office was the transparency of EU institutions. On this O’Reilly said, “there is still a lot to do in the transparency field in terms of giving citizens the information they need.”
On Friday O’Reilly opened up a public consultation process over a new trade deal that is set to come into place between the US and EU. It is thought that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could provide a boost of over €100 billion to the European economy.
The Ombudsman’s office is currently involved in the TTIP to “enhance the transparency” of the deal. It is thought that the negotiation could have a “significant impact on the lives of citizens”.
Speaking earlier this year at the Women’s Executive Network’s Ireland’s Most Powerful Women: Top 25 event in Dublin O’Reilly hit out at the pressure on women to place prioritise raising children over professional development.
The EU Ombudsman is appointed by the European Parliament. O’Reilly previously served as a national ombudsman for a decade between 2003 and 2013. O’Reilly’s time in the position will last until the end of the year.
Complaints about EU bodies can be lodged through the ombudsman’s office here.
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I’m not suggesting single use plastic items should not be banned but in the West it’s really little more than self-satisfied virtue signalling at this stage given that most of the plastic waste in the oceans comes from Asia and Africa. Every little helps though! Now if only we could convince the rest of the world of that. Mind you Justin Trudeau is usually self-satisfied and virtue signalling anyways. This article gives a relatively clear outline of the source of the plastic waste in the oceans.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluting-our-oceans-comes-from-just-10-rivers/
@William Tallon: why not instant ban on plastic sure haven’t we got biodegradable plastic now are these boyos still doing oil companies favours at a cost to the planet.one wonders…
@William Tallon: A lot of countries pay Asia and other countries to take there plastic waste.
@Robert Phelan: I think it’s more to do with profits, laziness and being slow to change more than ‘Big Oil’ to be honest. Public pressure works eventually. It also does no harm for big companies to flaunt their green credentials as it’s good for business in the present climate, pun intended. If anyone from Big Oil is reading this then please get in touch. I’ll only be too happy to post lots of positive comments about you on the Journal site for a large fee. Just joking of course! But if anybody from Big Oil is actually reading this…
@William Tallon: The west never recycled any plastic- they sent it all to poor countries and there was zero accountability for what happened once it left our shores.
Disgusting fat overconsuming self satisfied Germans are now burning their “recycling” in open fires in Poland because they can’t chuck it into the ocean via China anymore.
How dare they do it before us Irish, don’t they know we do everything first, ban smoking in Public Places, bring in Marriage equality, proclaim ourselves Alcoholics. Our plan to be First to save the Planet is just ruined now.
@John Declan:
Socked us to it!
And who will pay for it, joe soap as usual
@Ian James Burgess: your kids and your grandkids Joe soap won’t earn much if we destroy the planet.
Fantastic
have your say