McGuinness urges voters to check candidates’ European political alliances

Fine Gael European election candidate for Midlands North West, Mairead McGuinness MEP, today (Monday) called on voters to scrutinise very carefully the European alliances of each party and candidate in the forthcoming European elections. 
The MEP who was last year voted Vice-Chairman of the EPP in the European Parliament, by far the largest and most influential party in Europe, said:
“Fine Gael belongs to an alliance that has real influence. The European Peoples Party is based on a Christian democratic philosophy and I believe that this approach to policy formation that resonates with the vast majority of Irish people.
“For example, Sinn Féin belongs to a loose alliance of left wing communists who don’t engage in the real work of the Parliament on key issues.”
Pointing to her own track record as an MEP, Mairead said:  “The role of an MEP is all about influencing, negotiating and shaping change through tenacious and assiduous work. You won’t do this by shouting from the back of the room’.
“I am proud to have been able to prevail upon my colleagues in parliament to, among other things, protect the Common Agricultural Budget from severe cuts, achieve compensation from the British government for Equitable Life policyholders and to make changes to the structural funds that will ensure that people with disabilities can live in community settings rather than in institutions.”
Professor Gerard Quinn of NUI Galway, a foremost expert on disability, has said of McGuinness’s work:
“Mairead McGuinness MEP has helped achieve something the European disability movement has been advocating for a long time – reform of the EU Structural Funds to ensure that every cent counts and is spent ensuring people can live in the community instead of in institutions’.
“Through her persistence – as well as total command of her brief – she has shown that Europe matters and that positive change is possible.”