Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan has condemned the delay in implementing key laws to protect human rights and the environment in the EU.
The Dublin MEP said:
“This deliberate delay is all part of the disastrous de-regulation that Ursula Von Der Leyen’s Omnibus proposals would introduce.
“These new rules were supposed to make corporations and big businesses responsible for ensuring that their work would protect human rights and minimise damage to the environment.
“Unfortunately, there has been massive lobbying against these rules by companies under the guise of ‘simplification’. These same companies that are linked to land grabbing, union busting, deforestation and child labour.
“Kathleen Funchion and I were among 69 MEPs who voted against delaying these rules. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael unfortunately voted to delay introducing these important rules.
“Removing red tape for businesses is one thing, but backtracking on hugely important human rights and environmental legislation is something totally different.
“There is huge support in Ireland for laws that hold corporations to account and uphold human rights.
“I call on all Irish MEPs to do the right thing and to come together, to have the backs of workers and families, to protect our environment and to stand against this disastrous deregulation.”
