Irish MEPs criticised for siding with extreme right in voting to gut key EU laws
Irish government position described as ‘incoherent’ after u-turn on laws it voted for just over a year ago
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil MEPs clash online while several sit out the vote
Aid agencies and rights groups have strongly critcised the Irish government for reversing its position on EU environmental and human rights safeguards, after the European Parliament today voted to gut landmark EU laws designed to ensure that large multinational companies address abuses in their global supply chains and end corporate harm and exploitation, particularly in poorer developing countries.
European lawmakers voted to pass ‘Omnibus 1’, a vast ‘slash and burn’ deregulation package that will significantly weaken core human rights, workers’ rights, environmental and climate protections. The package is a flagship proposal of Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as European Commission President, aimed at lowering corporate standards in the name of ‘competitiveness’.
Evie Clarke is Policy Coordinator of theIrish Coalition for Business and Human Rights, a coalition of civil society organisations that includes Christian Aid Ireland, Trócaire, Oxfam Ireland, ActionAid Ireland and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, as well as academic experts campaigning for greater corporate accountability based on respect for human rights and the environment.
Today’s vote is a devastating blow to people and planet. European lawmakers have eviscerated years of progress and handed corporations a licence to harm. This slash-and-burn deregulation package drags Europe into a race to the bottom and sells out the communities who have fought hardest for justice. Irish government MEPs siding with the extreme right to weaken these laws is indefensible and the Irish Government’s incoherent stance, denying the deregulatory nature of these reforms, collapses under the Commission’s acknowledgment that this is a deregulatory agenda.
— Evie Clarke, Coordinator of the ICBHR.
In a significant break with decades of precedent, all Fine Gael and several Fianna Fáil MEPs broke the so-called ‘cordon sanitaire’ and voted with extreme right parties in the European Parliament to support the deregulatory agenda, despite Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher last month describing the proposals as “deeply sad, shameful” and criticising Fine Gael MEPs for moving from “flirting with the far-right to getting into bed with the far right."
The Irish Government also failed to defend these key protections, echoing corporate talking points on ‘competitiveness’, despite voting them into law less than a year ago and insisting it had not changed position.
This is a dark chapter for the European Union. Today the EU has removed the obligation for companies to develop and implement climate transition plans. We know that strong regulation is necessary to protect the environment and human rights. European citizens and people around the world will pay the price for today’s decision.
The whole process was rushed and bypassed essential obligations including carrying out an impact assessment and consulting civil society. Climate change is real and the cost of inaction – for businesses and the rest of us – will be far greater than acting now.
— Bríd McGrath, Director of Public Affairs at Oxfam Ireland
Eight Irish MEPs voted for the Omnibus proposal to undo corporate sustainability and climate rules:
All 4 FG MEPs: Carberry, Doherty, Kelly and Walsh.
2 FF MEPs: Kelleher and Ní Mhurchu.
2 Independent Ireland MEPs: McNamara and Mullooly.
Three Irish MEPs voted to reject the Omnibus proposal and maintain corporate sustainability and climate rules:
Both SF MEPs: Boylan and Funchion.
1 Independent: Ming Flanagan.
Three Irish MEPs did not register a vote:
2 FF MEPs: Barry Cowen and Barry Andrews (the latter having played a key role in drawing up the rules in the first place, and a strong and vocal supporter of them).
1 Labour: Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.
The final recorded EP votes on the Omnibus proposal can be found on page 119-120 of the document here, under the following heading: 8.3 A10-0197/2025 - Jörgen Warborn - Accord provisoire - Am 401.
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In February 2025, the European Commission published its proposal for Omnibus I to entirely reopen a suite of existing human rights environmental laws, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Green Taxonomy and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) which offered concrete protections for workers, communities, the environment and climate.
These laws were initially introduced in response to a number of devastating incidents regarding corporate harm worldwide, from the devastation of oil extraction and pollution in the Niger Delta in the 1990s to the deaths of over 1,100 garment workers in the 2013 Rana Plaza Disaster in Bangladesh. European economists have stated that these laws are “a crucial and effective step towards an economy that respects human rights, the environment and the climate, and that frames business activities in a way that is compatible within planetary boundaries.”
The vote to deregulate core environmental and human rights legislation followed heavy pressure from the fossil fuel and extractive industries. Recently published research by Dutch NGO, SOMO, revealed that a secretive alliance of major US-based polluters, including Chevron and ExxonMobil, coordinated an aggressive lobbying campaign to weaken the EU’s human rights and climate laws.
This is a dark chapter for the European Union. Today the EU has removed the obligation for companies to develop and implement climate transition plans. We know that strong regulation is necessary to protect the environment and human rights. European citizens and people around the world will pay the price for today’s decision.
