![\"MEP](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/HTGVTUN5WRAOHMDPZWRBFXXUYI.jpg\")
MEP Ciaran Mullooly <\/p>\nCiaran Mullooly has no problem admitting he spent his first few months as an MEP \u201clost\u201d in the European Parliament. <\/p>\n
Navigating the confusing inner workings of the 720-seat parliament is daunting for a first time MEP, particularly a political newcomer. \u201cThe first six months was very difficult, but I love it now,\u201d Mullooly says. <\/p>\n
Even physically finding your way around the parliament, which sits in Brussels and Strasbourg, could be tough. \u201cI know most of the rooms at this stage, but not them all,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
Nina Carberry laughs when recalling an early faux pas after her election as a Fine Gael MEP, when trying to get a short speaking slot in the parliament. <\/p>\n
Previously politicians could wave to whoever was chairing proceedings to jump in and make a short point, known as the \u201ccatch the eye\u201d rule. <\/p>\n
Carberry, armed with speaking notes, was keen to make her first intervention in parliament, so duly threw her hand up and started waving. <\/p>\n
She remembers getting a funny look from Mairead McGuinness, Ireland\u2019s EU commissioner at the time, who was in the chamber. \u201cI\u2019m like, oh my god, why are they looking at me weird?\u201d the former jockey says. <\/p>\n
Unknown to her, the parliament\u2019s rules had recently changed, requiring MEPs to first press a button to get in a queue to speak. \u201cI never made that mistake again,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the things you learn, you have to get to know the process. It was quite embarrassing at times, but we got there in the end,\u201d Carberry says. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m settled in now\u201d. <\/p>\n
The adjustment to politics for the former Dancing with the Stars winner was a \u201csteep\u201d learning curve. \u201cThere\u2019s no training … When you come here, it\u2019s huge,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
In her previous career as a jockey Carberry says she learned how to keep her elbows out in a male-dominated sport. \u201cYou could probably argue that a lot of politics is like that as well,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Joined<\/p>\n
Mullooly says things got a lot easier when he joined Renew, the European political grouping that includes Fianna F\u00e1il, French president Emmanuel Macron\u2019s camp and several other centrist parties. The Fianna F\u00e1il MEPs \u201cinitially weren\u2019t that keen\u201d on him being taken into the grouping, Mullooly says. <\/p>\n
Independents have been a political fixture of both government and opposition for years in the D\u00e1il. In the European Parliament, though, nearly all of the horse trading goes on between the various groupings, so belonging to one matters when it comes to getting on the right committee, or bringing forward legislation. <\/p>\n
The parliament is just one piece of the complex puzzle. You also have the European Commission, who initially propose laws, and the Council of the EU, the institution where the 27 national governments have their say. <\/p>\n
MEP Ciaran Mullooly <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the problem is there are too many senior people in the commission who have their own impression of how Europe should be run, they\u2019re not elected,\u201d Mullooly says. <\/p>\n
For Carberry, as a Fine Gael MEP she was automatically in the largest grouping in parliament, the centre right European People\u2019s Party (EPP). <\/p>\n
Ideologically the group has shifted further rightward and routinely teams up with more extreme populist parties and the far right, to pass or kill laws. That has left Fine Gael in an awkward position. <\/p>\n
Carberry says she felt \u201cuncomfortable to speak up\u201d during internal EPP debates about the war in Gaza, where Ireland\u2019s view was a minority one. <\/p>\n
The need to spend a lot of time back home meeting constituents is not a challenge MEPs from many other countries have to contend with, due to electoral systems that place more emphasis on parties than individual candidates. <\/p>\n
Most Irish MEPs will be back in Ireland for constituency work on the Friday of any week. <\/p>\n
Catching the Monday morning red-eye flight to Brussels meant leaving the house at 2am, Mullooly says. \u201cThis year I\u2019m coming out more on Sunday evenings, it\u2019s just easier on the body,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
The Independent Ireland MEP says he is still \u201cliving out of a suitcase\u201d during the week, staying in hotels or serviced accommodation. He has looked at sourcing a house in Brussels, but hadn\u2019t yet got around to pulling the trigger yet. \u201cI have to really get the act together,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
Both Carberry and Mullooly comment on the vast size of their Midlands North West constituency, which includes 16 counties and stretches from Kildare across to Galway and up to Donegal. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s not too busy in Brussels I\u2019m going to try now and stay at home for the Monday, whether it\u2019s visiting a school or visiting a business nearby, and then get on the plane,\u201d Carberry says. <\/p>\n
Budget<\/p>\n
One of the big political fights in 2026 will be over the EU\u2019s next seven-year budget, which will be negotiated over the next year and a half. <\/p>\n
The parliament is up in arms over the commission\u2019s plan to roll a whole range of existing EU funds, from CAP farm subsidies, to rural development grants and funding for roads, into national baskets of money each government would be responsible for doling out.<\/p>\n
The proposed \u20ac2 trillion budget is overly focused on defence and had been \u201cdesigned by the commission to reflect on what eastern European countries are saying\u201d, Mullooly says. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe European model has to represent the full share of all the 27 member states, not just seven or eight who have genuine, pressing concerns,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
Carberry says she was \u201cdisappointed\u201d at proposed changes that would ringfence less funds for farmers. <\/p>\n
\u201cI also know the pressures that are on the budget, whether it\u2019s an increase in defence and security, and knowing that countries have to do that to protect our borders,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
The parliament would hopefully be able to push for stronger guarantees that more funding would come back to rural areas, the Fine Gael MEP says. <\/p>\n
The Government would play a \u201cbig part\u201d in steering the negotiations during the second half of 2026, she says, a reference to Ireland holding the rotating EU presidency, an influential deal-making role. <\/p>\n
Protecting children online and stricter regulation of vaping products were two things Carberry says she would like to see the EU do more on. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve two young girls at home,\u201d she says. There was no \u201csilver bullet\u201d, but mandatory age verification to make sure young children were not using social media platforms would be a good start, she says. <\/p>\n
MEPs should be a bridge between what was going on inside the EU system and local organisations or constituents, Mullooly says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf at any point I\u2019m saying \u2018I\u2019m wasting my time here\u2019, I won\u2019t run for re-election, because I\u2019m one of these people I have to see some sort of practical result,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a secure job and you have to deliver,\u201d Carberry says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t like it to stop now anyway. So I\u2019m enjoying it. I enjoy my job, I feel like I\u2019m getting better at it,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ciaran Mullooly has no problem admitting he spent his first few months as an MEP \u201clost\u201d in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-252156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115785377356747703","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}