Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Catherine Day and Ms Barbara Nolan to the meeting. I have two questions. There is a good deal of support in Ireland for the idea that we would have more robust monitoring of our economic performance at a European level. There is a much greater realisation in Ireland than perhaps in some of the other countries of the importance of Europe to us into the future and its role. There is also a peculiar dichotomy in the sense that Europe has enlarged spectacularly in recent years but I have a suspicion that if a survey were done in the morning, 90% of Irish people would not be able to name the member states of the European Union. To what extent will that undermine what the Commission and the members states are attempting to achieve in terms of European stability?

The second issue relates to the Commission's role. There is an argument that the Commission, to some extent, as the permanent civil service, is the conscience of the European Union and its job is to see difficulties coming around the track. Does Ms Day feel the Commission has to take responsibility to some extent for the way in which the European roadmap has taken a significant hit, particularly economically, in recent years? What way does she think the Commission in its engagement with the national parliaments should have more of a blue-skies mandate in the sense of future-proofing the Union to an extent? I think, for example, of key issues coming down the track that could significantly undermine Europe’s capacity going forward, such as how the age profile of our population could seriously undermine us in the years ahead.