The National Disability Authority and European Parliament Information Office in Ireland are jointly hosting a conference on the opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in public and political life on an equal basis with others. The event takes place on the morning of Friday 24th May 2013 in the Croke Park Conference Centre and attendance is free of charge.

In the context of the Irish presidency, the European Parliament Office in Ireland, in co-operation with the Centre for Irish and European Security, will host a conference entitled "Securing Europe: Future Threats and Trends". The Conference will take place on 16th May from 9 am-5.00 pm in the European Parliament Office, 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 and speakers will include Emer Costello MEP as well as a range of international speakers.

It was dedicated to you and now it is in Brussels for you to see. The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the EU last year is on display at Parliament's visitors centre until 6 October. Inaugurating the exhibition, EP president Martin Schulz said: "Understand what kind of precious gift it is for all of us to live in the EU in an era of peace on a continent that was too long, too often, a continent of war, of hate, of racism, of xenophobia, of anti-Semitism."

"Tax evasion is a crime which can be committed virtually with impunity, but with devastating effects on society"

Draft laws setting up a single EU bank supervisory system were approved in a plenary vote on Wednesday. The European Central Bank will supervise the Eurozone's largest banks directly and have a say in supervising other banks. However, Parliament will give its final seal of approval only later, to allow time for parallel talks with the ECB on detailed accountability arrangements.

A cross-party delegation of Irish MEPs including Pat the Cope Gallagher, Gay Mitchell, Emer Costello and Martina Anderson met with the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz to discuss the absence of an Irish language version of the European Parliament website.