Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Neale Richmond and Ms Billie Sparks for their presentation today. I will begin by addressing some comments to Ms Sparks. It is great that she has appeared before the joint committee to talk about the future of Europe. All members respect the work of European Movement Ireland, EM Ireland, and its attempts to try to educate and inform people as to what is going on in Europe and where Europe is going. I compliment it on this work, particularly in respect of its regional discussions, because it is important to get out there and remind oneself it is not simply about holding meetings within the capital and that it is necessary to go out and talk to people in the regions and get their views on Europe and how they would like it to develop. I congratulate EM Ireland on that initiative and look forward to joining it at some of the locations throughout the country.

This is EM Ireland's third year of producing the accountability report and it is very much a step forward. It sets benchmarks for the various institutional attendance rates and performance. In the spirit of trying to make next year's report even better, I have a couple of suggestions on which the witnesses might comment or else they might take them away. The first pertains to attendance, and I will comment specifically about this joint committee's attendance rates. Mr. Richmond noted the attendance rate at this joint committee was approximately 64%, and I have a couple of things to say in this regard. First, it might be useful to note in the report that other committees meet at the same time as this joint committee. For instance, as one can see on the room's monitors, an important meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children is under way, as are meetings of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. As many members of this joint committee will be leading the questions in the aforementioned committees, it would give a clearer picture were one to note members are on business elsewhere. Moreover, members might be on business outside the Houses at the same time. Consequently, I would not like the message to emerge from this meeting that one third of members are simply sitting this one out.

I also suggest EM Ireland might give consideration to the issue of serial offenders. Were it to delve through the actual attendance records, it would see that some people may need to be encouraged to attend these meetings more frequently. I do not mean anyone who is present. I am sick of the sight of Deputy Bernard Durkan and the other members in attendance today, who are present at every meeting. However, one or two people could be encouraged to improve their attendance. I will leave those suggestions with the witnesses.

The second point relates to chapter 6 of the report, from page 87 onwards, on the referendum on the fiscal compact treaty. As I note Mr. Richmond's comments on wishing to eliminate subjectivity, I will read out a couple of sentences that sprang out from that particular section and I hope he will see where I am going with this. On page 88, the report states there were "commanding Dáil performances from a number of [Sinn Féin's] more prominent TDs". On the next page, it is stated that "Deputies Shane Ross and Finian McGrath belatedly came out against the Treaty". A few pages on, the Taoiseach's decision not to take part in a formal debate is commented on and the report states "that decision may have impacted on the Taoiseach's personal popularity". Further on it is stated "the contribution of Fianna Fáil to the campaign cannot be underestimated". I have no particular argument with any of these points other than that each is highly subjective and they are not based on fact. Incidentally, EM Ireland's analysis of the referendum on the fiscal compact treaty is very good but it would be better if the report did not contain so much subjectivity. This is not to agree or disagree with any of the particular statements, other than by stating I do not believe it is the place for such subjectivity, particularly bearing in mind how detailed a debate was held in this particular forum on the referendum and the strength of feelings it raised.

I will leave it at that. I believe it is a fantastic document, which can be very useful and I look forward to next year's edition being even better than this year's report.