Mr. Dan O'Brien:

On the question as to what could be done to convince British eurosceptics, the short answer is "Nothing". As to whether we expect too much, this is one of the things that has been very surprising over the course of the crisis. Despite being in an integrated Europe for half a century, the incapacity of people to put themselves in the position of others has been striking. The Germans blame the Greeks and vice versa. This willingness to blame others and downplay one's own culpability has been a marked feature of the crisis. To give an example from the Irish case, the dogs in the street know the banking crisis has cost the State €65 billion. How many times has anybody asked how much of this sum was imposed by European institutions? This is a crucial question in terms of how much we would be entitled to recover. If one believes a large part of this cost was imposed on us, one should put a number on it. From everything I understand about the chronology of events leading to Ireland's assuming these debts, the vast majority of this was done as a result of decisions taken in this country by a democratically elected Government on the basis of what it considered to be the interests of Irish citizens. We are not asking that question, however, and there is a general view that others in Europe imposed this debt on us, which is simply not the case.

On the issue of national parliaments having a role in legislation, let me strike a slightly contrarian note. I agree with Phil Prendergast, MEP, that the European Parliament is a reasonably good parliament. It is well designed and functions well, and its committee system in particular is very impressive. Given that there are 27 member states, if it came to a point at which every national parliament had a role in the legislation that the principle of subsidiarity dictates should be enacted by the European Parliament, this would significantly increase complexity in the system. With what problem are we dealing? Senator Colm Burke raised this issue in respect of medical devices. How much EU-level legislation has turned out to be damaging for this country? I do not believe it has been a significant amount, which suggests that the way the European Parliament works and the system whereby permanent representations in Brussels maintain oversight of the legislative process have worked well in protecting national interests. What would be the effect of giving national parliaments a greater role? Given that we do not have a major problem, bringing national parliaments into the legislative process to any significant extent would increase complexity in the system and slow down the law-making process at European level. This could create more problems than it solves.