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Barry Andrews / Twitter
Barry Andrews / Twitter / Twitter
PARTING IS SUCH sweet sorrow, so the famous Shakespearean phrase goes – but it was made a little bit sweeter by the Liberal Democrats’ former MEPs.
The party’s 16 departing members of the European Parliament left hampers filled with British goods for the six MEPs that would replace them in their European grouping Renew Europe – including Irish MEP Barry Andrews, who took up his Strasbourg seat in February.
73 British MEPs were elected last May during the European elections, despite the UK’s looming exit from the EU. In that European election, 27 extra MEPs were elected across the EU member states – with the expectation that the UK would leave and those 27 MEPs would then take their seats.
This finally happened on 1 February, when the UK officially left the EU. This resulted in all British representation being withdrawn from the European Commission, Council and Parliament (they took the Union Jack down, too).
Among those 27 extra MEPs (sometimes referred to as ‘cold storage’ MEPs) were two Irish parliamentarians: Fine Gael’s Deirdre Clune, and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Andrews.
Andrews, whose party Fianna Fáil is in the same political grouping as the Liberal Democrats, was left a parting gift by his departing colleagues: a hamper full of products from the UK.
Among the goods were Yorkshire Tea, Henderson’s Relish, Scotch whisky Chivas Regal, and a Yorkshire pudding and pancake mix.
A note was left with the hamper that read: “Although we have lost our voice in Europe, at the same time, we wish you well. Please accept these British regional products as a welcome gift.”
Andrews told TheJournal.ie that the hampers were left for all of the new Renew Europe MEPs, of which there are six.
He said that taking up his seat, in place of MEPs like the Liberal Democrats was “very odd” and “there is certainly an air of real regret about the place”.
“The Liberal Democrats made a huge contribution in the group and fought to the end for the revocation of Article 50 – the strange thing for me is that on a personal level I benefited from their campaign ultimately running out of road.”
“That makes the gesture all the more generous and appreciated,” he said.
The former leader of the Liberal Democrat MEPs group Catherine Zena Bearder said that the hamper was “a gesture to welcome MEPs joining Renew Europe, a team we so enjoyed and were proud to be part of”.
“Although Brexit means we will lose our voice at the table in the EU on so many issues – issues we want to fight for, like standing up for human rights and protecting the environment – we will continue to champion the internationalist values we hold dear, here in the UK.”
The Renew Europe group is now the third largest in the European Parliament (97 MEPs), while the EPP (Fine Gael’s EU party) has is the largest, on 187 seats. The second largest party is S&D, with 148 seats in the post-Brexit cycle.
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A nice gesture by them.
@Seán Ó Briain: what about a nice gesture from our MEPs to us: a regular, detailed account of what exactly they are doing in the EU parliament? nobody can complain about the EUs lack of accountability when our own MEPS are not even accountable to us. And I dont just mean a list of every meeting they went to: I mean a clear summary of the agendas and points of view. surely this isnt beyond them (although given the quality of the last two there, clune and andrews, legendary wasters…
@alan: bla bla bla. Can you not reply so negatively to a simple nice story. It’s so annoying. Always someone has to turn something kind into a political football.
@alan: “detailed account of what exactly they are doing in the EU parliament?”
Legislating, as that is what MEP’s do. They are the legislature for the EU along with the Council of the EU.
Before you go off on your anti-EU spiel, you should probably learn the basics of how the EU operates.
@alan: Alan, link here to meeting minutes of all EU parliamentary meetings. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/plenary/en/minutes.html
So your point is..?
@Siofra Cronin: Oh Alan doesn’t really care about the things he says he cares about. He just wants to moan and complain and blame others for his sorry life. Y’see if he can pin the blame for his failures on someone else then it’s not his fault. See how convenient that is?
@alan: All available on line if you want to find it.
While Director General of http://www.iiea.com, Barry Andrews oversaw the recruitment of unpaid full time staff. Why bother paying the minimum wage ? # Online adverts # Friends in high places
Still want to know why he was made step down as GOAL CEO. All those irregularities on the paper work, tut tut Barry.
@Da Vid: that money was just resting in his account before he was going to pass it on
This is news…
@Raymond Tom: How do you know?
@Raymond Tom: you don’t have to read it, go be angry elsewhere
@Raymond Tom: 10/10 on the reading comprehension there…
No, it means ALL the people of the UK are out. They won’t be back anytime soon, particularly after the punishment beatings being lined up by France and Spain against them. God help us all in Ireland if we become isolated on the far side of Great Britain without access to GB roads or possibly UK airspace.
Why oh why are the EU negotiators making stupid pronouncements before even sitting down to negotiate ?
I doubt the UK are going to close their airspace to EU flights and roads to EU traffic. The EU would hit back and cripple the UK.
I do agree that the EU are being a bit over the top in their stance though – no need to stoop to the Farage’s level.
@John Stretton: You’re clueless. Leave politics to people who are informed.
@John Stretton: Let me guess… you read this in the Sun?
@John Stretton: These types of negotiations often start with sabre rattling and a hard front. It’s meant to show the other side that you mean business. Things will soften when they actually start to discuss matters (I hope).
@Manbackonboard: Or the Mail or Express or any of the red top rags
@John Stretton: Because the UK ministers have been shouting about what they are going to get and its all for them. It is a warning shot thats all
Unfortunately the Lib Dems weren’t in power and the ignorant fringey Brexit lot were
@Gerard McAuliffe: the ignorant fringey Brexit lot are the legitimate government. What a shame for anti-Democrats like you.
Never liked Yorkshire tea
@derek fehily:
We should give them back hamper 10 times the size with all the EU goods they will miss and a note to say we really wish them the best and the Lib Dem’s have been great EU colleges and we truly hope the best for them and the rest of UK
It wasn’t very kind of them y
I’ll bet the bottle of Chivas Regal is already empty!
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