Tipperary convention selects Liadh Ni Riada to run again for Sinn Fein in European elections

Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada has urged people to send a strong Sinn Féin team to Europe to counteract the Fine Gael campaign against Irish sovereignty.

The Ireland South MEP was speaking at the party's selection convention in Tipperary today where she was once again selected as the constituency's candidate for the upcoming European election.

Ms Ní Riada was joined by party president Mary Lou McDonald in the Cahir House Hotel where they received a thunderous ovation from the packed hall.

“Week in and week out, we watch aghast in the European Parliament as Fine Gael MEPs brazenly support motions that dilute our sovereignty,” she said.

“They support politics that cut funding from social, environmental and educational programmes.

“They follow a political agenda which protects multinational corporations over the rights of ordinary citizens and over the interests of small businesses

“And make no mistake, Fine Gael MEPs are firmly wedded to following a path which will see Ireland pushed into an EU army.

“The creeping militarisation of the EU, aided and abetted by Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, will see us committed to spending more and more money on defence while schools and hospitals crumble, while roads degrade to a dangerous state, while public services are either privatised or cut.

“The European Union of 2019 requires seismic and radical change.

“The privatisation agenda, driven by the EU, and implemented by our government with great relish, is taking money out of the pockets of ordinary citizens and transferring that money into the pockets of the wealthy and powerful.

“But it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right political will, we can have a better European Union – fair, progressive, just and social.

“An EU that puts the interests of ordinary citizens ahead of wealthy elites and corporations is possible.

“We want to see an EU that is a real community of nations – not a federalist behemoth which bulldozes the sovereignty of small member states.

“It is time for an EU that prioritizes the welfare of citizens.

“This means robust workers rights and decent jobs, access to affordable and public housing, access to socialised healthcare, strong social protection and a genuine commitment to economic justice.”