Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to this meeting. I understand that we are attempting to create a dialogue between parliamentarians and the EU and that there is a deficit in that regard. There is certainly a deficit in the sense that we have MEPs elected to represent Ireland who seem to be aloof from this engagement process.

I am very worried about what seems to be happening in Europe. Some of my concerns include the fact that Bulgaria has no government at present and Italy is in an extremely unstable position politically, with the likelihood that its Government will collapse, with further disharmony ensuing. There are also rumours that Slovenia is having extreme financial difficulties and will head down the thorny bailout path, that Spain is in crisis and that the French banking system is unstable. There are four countries already in bailout programmes, namely Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece. At the same time, the British Prime Minister is gaining support for his proposal to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. In Ireland we are blessed by the fact that we have a written Constitution and have to put proposals for major change to the people by way of referenda. That, in a sense, tends to make us focus quite sharply on issues emanating from Europe, which is positive. However, I detect a very strong sense of alienation among the citizens of Europe. The fact that people feel that they can vote for comedians over serious politicians is very worrying. To some extent, we can be encouraged by the fact that countries such as Iceland, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, Turkey and the Ukraine want to join the European Union. Where does the Minister of State see things going in 2014?

A witness who appeared before an Oireachtas committee recently suggested that the political structure in Ireland is not capable of delivering the degree of professionalism required to properly scrutinise EU business. He said that the client basis of electoral support here, the multi-seat constituency system and the single transferable vote created so much internal competition that parliamentarians would not have the time or inclination to engage in the serious business of really delving into such scrutiny.

What is happening now could be called the politics of the pendulum. All over Europe, socialists get elected and then they get kicked out, to be replaced by conservatives who then get kicked out and so forth. Iceland is a great example of this. The pendulum is in constant motion. The people are so desperate for some sort of long-term stability and security. They are in such pain that they opt to get rid of their current leaders in favour of the opposition, in the hope that their situation will improve. In reality, their situation is deteriorating.