Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Regarding agreements made in the past - the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement - the witness referred to slow progress. If anything will kill the potential of what came out of those agreements, it is slow progress.

I have some disagreements with the witnesses' assessment of EU developments. Many key EU personnel, most recently Viviane Reding, the vice-president of the Commission talked about a true political union and creating a united states of Europe. That is a big issue coming out of Europe and how we are moving forward. Like many Irish people, I believe there was a lack of solidarity within Europe in this regard. I believe that many people in Greece, Cyprus and Portugal would have a similar view.

I welcome what the witnesses said about Ireland's neutrality and not joining NATO. However, it is worrying that a recent European Council meeting solely discussed defence and security issues. I would conclude that the EU is moving increasingly towards creating a European army to work alongside and co-operate with NATO.

The witness spoke about the referendums. Many of us have a view on what was promised in the referendums. What came out in the documentation was at odds with that. I agree with the witness on European scrutiny. I believe there is broad agreement across the committee. I believe there should be a greater role for the Seanad in that. How can that be developed? Should that scrutiny role be taken from this committee? If we are not talking in terms of reforming the Seanad, we will have much of the same and I do not know how we can implement that greater scrutiny role.

Even on the First World War issue, there is disagreement on whether the shots fired in Sarajevo were the trigger. They were fired a couple of months before the outbreak. Even on huge issues like that, historians, politicians and people who are fond of history can have difficulties.

One of the key signals that people are stepping back from Europe is shown in a recent survey of European parliamentarians. It found that a tiny proportion of people recognise their own Member of the European Parliament and did not even know who they were. That in itself shows how people are disengaging from the European process, which is of concern. In free news sheets one sees articles about the activities of individual MEPs. How can we increase the acknowledgement of the work MEPs are doing?

I apologise for going on for so long.