Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The theme of these discussions is Ireland and the future of the EU. It is important that we have a real debate about the future of the EU and that we start engaging more with the public about it, rather than just talking to each other, whether it is Members of the Oireachtas or Members of the European Parliament. We need to engage with the community where we live. Do the MEPs have any engagement with people on the issue of integration in the EU? What feedback do they get on the EU and its institutions from ordinary people? When they tell people they are MEPs what does that mean to them?

Public confidence in the EU and its institutions is at an all-time low. Mr. Gay Mitchell said we need to talk about optimism, not pessimism.

Last December's Eurobarometer survey makes for grim reading. Irish public confidence in EU institutions was seen to be at an all-time low, which should not surprise us. While the majority of people want to remain in the euro they have lost confidence in politicians and EU institutions and there is a democratic deficit. Earlier this week Mr. Martin Schulz, MEP, said that the EU's current institutional set-up resembled a Frankenstein's monster because there is no democratic separation of powers. He said people could not trust the EU, and that the division of labour and the legal basis were not clear. I would like to get the MEPs' opinion on the Frankenstein's Europe he mentioned.

Is the time now right for greater European integration given that there are such high levels of public concern with how the EU is currently governed? How can this growing discontent be addressed, in terms of changing the direction of EU policy-making particularly in the economic sphere and in terms of how the EU institutions do their business? Mr. Martin Schulz, MEP, said he wants to see a government at EU level legitimised by the European Parliament. While we would not agree with that, it is his way of trying to address that deficiency. In his speech earlier this week, speaking about the debate in Britain over its membership, he said he was in favour of repatriating powers that have not proven to add value at an EU level. What powers should be repatriated back to member states?