Europe is in a housing crisis: right across the continent, people are facing increasingly unaffordable rents, eye-watering house prices, and rising energy bills caused by bad quality housing. This crisis is particularly bad in cities like Dublin.

We are often told that Europe has no powers over housing, but that simply isn’t true. The EU is playing a role in our housing markets, so it is vitally important that we ensure this role is a positive one. 

I have been working hard with my Green colleagues over the last five years to improve the EU response to this crisis, but the proposals we have received so far simply do not go far enough.

That’s why we have  put together a European Housing Crisis response plan that addresses five priority areas: more affordable and social housing; boosting renovation and construction; ending homelessness by 2030; stricter oversight of short-term rentals; and tackling housing speculation.

I have called for a European Housing Fund to help address the €57 billion annual investment gap in social and affordable housing. We need to build more public housing in Dublin, in particular. I’ve seen how cities like Vienna and Copenhagen can achieve this, and I know we can do this in Dublin. With new EU renovation targets coming down the line, the Housing Fund should also prioritise and support renovations for the people who can't afford their energy bills, who stand to benefit the most from these works.

Ireland has huge potential to become a renewable energy powerhouse and a leading player in the EU’s transition away from harmful fossil fuels. I am supporting measures to make this future a reality as one of two Irish MEPs on the European Parliament’s energy committee or the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE).

I worked on updates to the Renewable Energy Directive and the development of the EU Offshore Renewables Strategy, and I have been leading the charge in Parliament for the EU to provide greater investment in our electricity grids with the hope of finalising the EU Supergrid that will be needed to ensure our transition towards renewables. 

I am also focused on boosting building renovations and energy efficiency as a member of this committee. Retrofitting more homes and buildings is the best way to protect people from future energy price spikes. The people who will benefit most from these works are those struggling to afford their energy bills. 

In 2022, I was appointed as Parliament’s lead negotiator on a new EU greener buildings law known as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive or EPBD. As lead negotiator, I struck an agreement that will deliver savings on bills, help people on lower incomes to retrofit, and provide more local, expert advice tailored to people’s needs. 

Taking action on buildings is important not only to protect people from high bills, but also to bring down emissions. Buildings consume a whopping 40% of Europe’s energy, and produce 36% of our emissions. Meanwhile, seven out of 10 buildings are energy inefficient. So, instead of heating our homes, we are heating the planet. 

I am confident that the law I negotiated will lead to savings for Dublin households, while bringing down emissions.

Improving road safety is a top priority for me as the leading Green MEP on the Parliament’s transport committee. Some of the issues I have been working hard on are:

• Improving working conditions for professional drivers
• Keeping dangerous megatrucks out of Ireland
• Limiting the relentless growth in the weight and size of SUVs
• More funding for safer roads, including segregated cycle lanes
• Ending impunity for people who break traffic laws
• The EU’s first every cycling strategy

I am pushing for the creation of an EU road safety agency to oversee all these issues. 

Greening transport is another key focus of my work on the transport committee. For example, I have negotiated a new EU law called ReFuelEU Aviation, which will make flying more sustainable with new greener types of jet fuel. This new law is particularly good news for Ireland: we are well placed to take the lead on manufacturing these fuels with clean electricity from offshore wind farms.

Around half of my travel in my time as an MEP has been by train and ferry. This is known as SailRailing, and it’s an eco-friendly and increasingly popular way of travelling to the UK and Europe from Ireland. 

I want to make SailRail much easier, cheaper, and more reliable for travellers. There is a lot to be done, and I am working on securing funding for vital improvements and improving connectivity, especially for foot passengers. Watch my SailRail documentary on Youtube and read my SailRail Manifesto to find out more.

As a member of the Green Party (Comhaontas Glas) in Ireland, I sit with the Greens/European Free Alliance political group in the European Parliament. The Greens/EFA are made up of green parties from across Europe, as well as Pirate parties, Independents, and MEPs from the EFA representing minorities and stateless nations. 

The Greens/EFA group was founded 1999, and is now the 5th largest group in the Parliament comprising 73 MEPs (37 women and 36 men). We have a gender-balanced co-Presidency led by Terry Reintke from Germany, and Philippe Lamberts from Belgium. 

We are a progressive force in the European Parliament, fighting for an ecological and socially just transition, in a Europe that celebrates diversity and stands up for minorities.

Click here to find out more about the Greens/EFA. 

As well as being an MEP, I am also the President of the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES). EUFORES is a European network that facilitates open dialogue between European and national policymakers about developing Europe’s renewable energy potential. 

Renewable energy sources are the cornerstone of the European Green Deal and we need our politicians and policy makers to be up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies in the field of renewable energy, as well as energy efficiency. EUFORES provides a much-needed forum for achieving this. 

You can learn more about the work of EUFORES here.