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Find your match All Midlands-North-West Candidates
Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith

Independent

Campaign is self funded, no posters or pamphlets in your doors. I am a sole trader and very much in touch with the problems facing us due to lack of work by current MEPs ! we have lost control of our country & its values. Our fishing, our farming and Infrastructure all left behind. I will show up

Priorities

  • Agriculture

    The farming industry in Ireland has been dealt a raw deal especially with the Red tape legislation & Nature restoration laws. We need to fix that.

  • Other

    Our fishing industry is folding, The European policies regarding quotas need to be challenged immediately & Irish fishermen given fair fishing quotas

  • Immigration

    We need to CAP immigration and work with other EU countries to implement Dublin 111 regulations and challenge the EU migration pact immediately.

These answers were provided by the candidate

EU integration
1 of 21 questions
European integration has gone too far
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "It’s all well and good to be European, but we are Irish first. We have core values, unique weather systems and the EU policies need to be challenged to recognise that. Ireland is one of the smallest EU Countries so we are not the same as others. Our grass roots are different & our country needs help"

- Michelle Smith
EU enlargement
2 of 21 questions
It would be good if Ukraine joins the EU in the next five years
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "If they join the common agricultural policies need changing. Ireland are already losing farm income dramatically and Ireland has spent billions already helping the Ukraine but the question needs to be asked where is our help for our dying industries also. Will the EU increase the CAP?"

- Michelle Smith
Economic policy
3 of 21 questions
Corporation tax rates should be fully harmonised across the EU
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "It should be up to each government in each country to control their taxes. If Ireland didn’t attract large corporations due to small CT1 we would have a tiny GDP"

- Michelle Smith
Economic policy
4 of 21 questions
The EU budget should be increased, even if this means wealthy countries paying more
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Ireland is classed as a rich country due to foreign investments and companies such as Google but they have a different tax payment system. Ireland needs more funding for agriculture, aquaculture, infrastructure as we are lagging behind more funded countries and regions. We want a fair system "

- Michelle Smith
Commission President
5 of 21 questions
Ursula von der Leyen should receive a second term as Commission President
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Absolutely not! That’s plain and simple- I will support no one that did not recognise that greed has caused genocide in Palestine and she done nothing about it. "

- Michelle Smith
Defence
6 of 21 questions
EU member states, including Ireland, should collaborate more on defence and security
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Ireland needs to remain a neutral, peaceful country. We are the land of a thousand welcomes and we will never agree to fighting as an EU wide operation. "

- Michelle Smith
Defence
7 of 21 questions
The EU should have a common army
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Absolutely not "

- Michelle Smith
Defence
8 of 21 questions
The EU should finance more weapons for Ukraine
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "No I don’t agree EU should fund any weapons to non EU countries. Ukraines GDP is increasing, it has the largest agricultural sectors. Ireland will not support anything got to do with purchasing of weapons for non EU countries. We need funding for our own people badly. "

- Michelle Smith
Defence
9 of 21 questions
Ireland should retain its ‘triple lock’ rule for deploying troops
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Foreign policy
10 of 21 questions
The EU should suspend its trade agreement with Israel
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Foreign policy
11 of 21 questions
Each member state should have a veto on EU foreign policy
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "We need a veto and a say as to what happens at EU level and we have the right to opt out of decisions that won’t benefit our country."

- Michelle Smith
Immigration
12 of 21 questions
Ireland should participate in the EU’s new migration pact
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Absolutely not. We should opt out immediately "

- Michelle Smith
Immigration
13 of 21 questions
Member states should share responsibility for asylum applications in the EU
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "The numbers that Ireland has received is beyond comprehension and we do not have resources for the people living here never mind bringing more people into the country. "

- Michelle Smith
Immigration
14 of 21 questions
The EU should operate search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "No one wants to see deaths at see. It will have to be a discussion had"

- Michelle Smith
Immigration
15 of 21 questions
Ireland needs to do more to ensure asylum applicants have suitable accommodation
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "We can’t house our own people so I can’t agree to housing asylum seekers before anyone else"

- Michelle Smith
Immigration
16 of 21 questions
There should be checkpoints at the border with Northern Ireland to limit the number of asylum seekers coming to Ireland
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "There needs to be controls and a discussion and action between UK and Ireland. The 6 counties cannot be left out in these discussions and don’t have the resources either to take an influx of people "

- Michelle Smith
Environment
17 of 21 questions
The EU’s Nature Restoration Law, requiring rewetting of peatlands, should be adopted
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "We have a unique weather system, flooding and grass system. This is unrealistic for Ireland. Our lands are always wet"

- Michelle Smith
Environment
18 of 21 questions
The EU’s goal of a 55% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is too ambitious
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "It’s unrealistic without proper funding, innovation, desire and falling industries here that need helped first. The carbon tax in Ireland needs to be abolished also"

- Michelle Smith
Environment
19 of 21 questions
More windfarms (including onshore windfarms) should be built in Ireland
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "This would kill our unique wildlife and further damage our fishing and farming industry. "

- Michelle Smith
Agriculture
20 of 21 questions
Ireland should continue to seek special treatment for Irish farmers on the Nitrates (water quality) directive
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "They have been Blames for too long for climate change. The red tape needs lifted, we will not accept meat imported from Brazil or Argentina destroying the rain forests and we will fight for proper prices for our own produce"

- Michelle Smith
Agriculture
21 of 21 questions
The EU should reduce subsidies for high-emissions farming, such as beef and dairy
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • No opinion
Comment: "Farming is a way of life and we have an aging population of farmers. How do you expect to reduce emissions without help, funding and a task force to do it. Farmers have too much blame and not enough help and it’s not their fault that there is climate change "

- Michelle Smith