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

-----but they do not do so. In my opinion, they should be allowed to attend meetings of all committees and not just this one. On the subject of MEPs, perhaps those in the North could also be invited to attend. A relationship exists and we tend to sell Ireland on an all-island basis. Even if they never took up the option, it would be a positive move to invite MEPs from the North to attend and take part in our meetings.

Mr. Butler referred to the fact that there is no Irish representative on the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. All Irish MEPs are members of various groups within the Parliament which have representatives on that committee. Perhaps we could invite people from some of those European groupings to come before the committee to discuss particular matters. I thank Mr. Butler for what is an extremely interesting paper.