{"id":292794,"date":"2026-02-11T18:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T18:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/292794\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T18:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T18:26:09","slug":"sinn-fein-meps-to-vote-against-e90bn-eu-loan-for-ukraine-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/292794\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in MEPs to vote against \u20ac90bn EU loan for Ukraine \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a>\u2019s two MEPs are set to vote against a \u20ac90 billion European Union<\/a> loan to war-torn Ukraine<\/a> when the proposal comes before the European Parliament<\/a> on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

If approved, the loan would provide funding for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027 as it continues to resist the Russian<\/a> invasion. Of the overall amount, \u20ac30 billion would be for general financial support with \u20ac60 billion going on military equipment.<\/p>\n

The proposal is expected to be passed by the European Parliament<\/a> by a comfortable margin. MEPs from Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> and Fine Gael<\/a> plan to vote in favour of the loan.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in MEP Kathleen Funchion<\/a> confirmed both she and fellow MEP Lynn Boylan<\/a> will vote against the measure.<\/p>\n

Funchion said Sinn F\u00e9in continues to support the provision of humanitarian aid to Ukraine but the proposed \u20ac90 billion EU loan was \u201cprimarily for military expenditure\u201d. This, she said, \u201cundermines Ireland\u2019s neutrality\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in opposed the loan when Ireland\u2019s participation was voted on in the D\u00e1il last month.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s finance spokesman and TD for Donegal, Pearse Doherty, argued at the time that while \u201cfamilies in Ireland are crippled by the cost-of-living crisis\u201d the Government was \u201cproposing that billions of euro are given to Ukraine for weapons of war\u201d. Doherty said he would \u201crather see that money being invested in public services and cost-of-living supports\u201d across the EU. He also said \u201cneutrality was being hollowed out\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Fianna F\u00e1il MEP Barry Cowen criticised Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s stance, arguing its opposition to the loan rests on \u201cmisleading\u201d and \u201cpopulist\u201d claims that \u201cit somehow takes money from Irish families\u201d and \u201cdrags Ireland into funding so-called weapons of war\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis measure does not divert funding from housing, health or public services, nor does it place a financial burden on Irish households.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland is neither transferring funds from its own budget nor underwriting an open-ended commitment.\u201d <\/p>\n

Doherty rejected Cowen\u2019s suggestion Sinn F\u00e9in made populist claims.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe issue is not whether a cheque is written tomorrow from the Irish Exchequer, but whether Ireland is being committed … to long-term financial liabilities, debt-servicing costs and political alignment with an EU military financing framework.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has real trade-offs in terms of priorities across the Union, particularly at a time when millions of families are struggling.\u201d He added that \u201cto say those choices exist in separate silos is simply not credible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cowen described Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s neutrality argument as \u201cflawed and cynical\u201d, saying: \u201cSupporting Ukraine is about upholding the right of a sovereign country to protect its civilians … while drawing a clear moral line between defence and aggression. Neutrality was never meant to mean moral indifference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doherty hit back, saying: \u201cIreland\u2019s neutrality is not about moral indifference, nor does it prevent us from standing firmly against aggression or supporting victims of war. What it does mean is that Ireland does not participate in military alliances or in the financing of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Sinn F\u00e9in had proposed an amendment in the D\u00e1il seeking to \u201csee all of this loan provide for humanitarian assistance in Ukraine\u201d. He accused Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael of voting \u201cfor a proposal that would see the majority of this loan funding weapons of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a D\u00e1il debate, the Government made the case for Ireland\u2019s participation. Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said the financial support was \u201cabsolutely essential\u201d for Ukraine\u2019s self-defence, to support its finances and put it in a strong position for peace negotiations.<\/p>\n

Minister of State Marian Harkin said the Government \u201cwill ensure the funding provided by Ireland is aligned with our well-established policy of military neutrality\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s amendment was voted down and the D\u00e1il approved the proposal to participate in the EU initiative.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Independent MEP Luke Ming Flanagan also confirmed he would vote against the loan while Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly said he was voting in favour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s two MEPs are set to vote against a \u20ac90 billion European Union loan to war-torn Ukraine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11450,5148,895,3775,42,139976,69543,43,3589,3415,40,38,41,39,9688],"class_list":{"0":"post-292794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-european-parliament","9":"tag-european-union","10":"tag-fianna-fail","11":"tag-fine-gael","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-kathleen-funchion","14":"tag-lynn-boylan","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-russia","17":"tag-sinn-fein","18":"tag-top-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topnews","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-ukraine-crisis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}