What Sharon Did Last Week (23rd - 27th May)
Monday
On Monday, Sharon travelled from the UK to Brussels, leaving home at 5.30am to arrive just before 11am. After catching up with her team, Sharon prepared for an initial trialogue on short-selling. This was followed directly by another economic governance trialogue which lasted for over 3 hours. After this had finished, Constance and Sharon worked together on EMIR, which was being voted on the following day in Committee.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, the day began with Sharon chairing the ECON Committee, where agenda items included insolvency proceedings for EU company law, and a draft report on tax.
At midday, Sharon was called on by the Irish Permanent Representative to the EU (Ambassador) to discuss the economic situation in Ireland ahead of the ECON delegation to Dublin later that day.
After this, Sharon attended the meeting of ALDE members of the ECON committee where they discussed how to vote on the upcoming vote on EMIR and Deposit Guarantee Schemes.
At 3.30pm in Committee they had the vote on EMIR and Deposit Guarantee Schemes in Committee, which Sharon chaired. After the EMIR vote, the rapporteur announced that he did not want to seek a first-reading deal and wanted a second-reading. This is quite controversial because it puts in jeopardy the EU meeting its G20 targets because of the time a second-reading would take.
After Committee had finished in the evening, Sharon went to Zaventem airport to catch a flight to Dublin to lead a fact finding mission to Ireland with several ECON MEPs. Before she caught the plane, she went to have a look at the Solar Plane which was in Brussels for the week, and had a discussion with the designers of the plane. Although they were aware of her role in terms of the investment side of financing, they were delighted to discover she had an engineering background and was able to understand how the solar cells worked!
Wednesday
On Wednesday, Sharon began the two day programme in Ireland with a series of meetings, each lasting around an hour and a half.
At 9am there was a briefing by the EP information office inDublin. Then at 10am they met with John Corrigan, Chief Executive of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).
At 11am then met with Patrick Honohan, Governor of the Irish Central Bank and at midday they saw Matthew Elderfield, Head of Financial Regulation at the Central Bank.
At 2pm the delegation had a meeting with Pat Farrell, Chief Executive of the Irish Banking Federation, and lastly Frances Ruane and Joe Durkan from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
At 3.30pm, the Delegation met with members of the special Dáil Committee on a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), chaired by Fine Gael TD Charles Flanagan, where the MEPs stood before the Committee and answered questions on the EU position on economic matters.
Thursday
On Thursday, Sharon and the delegation met with David Begg and Paul Sweeney of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) at 9am.
After this, they met with Brendan Howlin TD, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
Then at midday the delegation had a meeting with Rory O'Donnell, Director of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), followed by Danny McCoy, Director General of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC).
At 2pm Sharon held a press conference and gave a TV interview with RTE which appeared on the main 6pm and 9pm news. Sharon has long since made it clear that she feels the high interest rates being charged to Ireland as part of their EU bailout deal goes against the principle of solidarity in the Union and should be reconsidered or treated as a returnable deposit. For more information, click here.
Friday
On Friday, Sharon started the day by giving two radio interviews, before preparing her presentation to the think tank Institute of International and European Affairs.
At 11.30am, she made her way to the Institute of International and European Affairs where she gave a keynote speech entitled 'EU financial and economic legislation - do they pull in the same direction?´ and she gave a brief video interview afterwards. You can see the interview here.
Saturday
On Saturday, Sharon gave more press interviews and received extensive coverage in the Sunday papers. You can see Sharon's media coverage here.