Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I extend a warm welcome to our colleagues from Turkey. We are delighted to have them visit the joint committee. They met with the Minister of State for European Affairs earlier and will meet the Tánaiste after this meeting. I hope our visitors' short trip to Ireland is productive and informative. While I have visited Turkey three times, my pronunciation of the names of our visitors may offend. I apologise. I welcome Mr. Egemen Bagis, Turkish Minister for Europe and the principal EU negotiator. The Minister is accompanied by Alaattin Büyükkaya, Deputy Minister for European affairs, Haluk Ilicak, under-secretary of the Ministry for European Affairs,  Burak Erdenir, deputy under-secretary, and Altay Cengizer. Though I needed help with that last name, it should have been the most straight-forward to pronounce as I recognise Mr. Cengizer and his name. He is the Turkish ambassador.

I understand that among the reasons for this visit to Ireland is to examine the position on the Turkish accession process. I hope that as Ireland takes over the EU Presidency during the next six months we will see a re-energising of our accession negotiations. Following the contribution from the Turkish Minister, my committee colleagues will be allowed to put any question or make any comments. The Minister may then respond.