Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I know that many of them will be running in the local elections in May and I wish them all the best in that regard. As Senator Leyden said, the Irish are unquestionably very good at networking, but I am not so sure we are so good at networking with each other.

I wish to pick up on some of the recommendations the delegation made. I do not necessarily agree with Senator Leyden that losing one MEP is a blow to the country. We are also losing councillors and Deputies; we are not losing any Senators. Given that we are experiencing a reduction in the numbers it should encourage us to be more efficient with what we have. We obviously have our Government, our Minister of State with responsibility for European Affairs, the European Parliament, the Dáil, the Seanad, this committee and of course in the European Semester we also have the finance committee. Then we have our MEPs and the Committee of the Regions.

What relationship do the witnesses have with our MEPs? Certainly there needs to be a beefing up of their relationship with this institution. On the other side are the groups that the witnesses most overtly represent, the regional authorities and local authorities. What is the chain of information flow?

Obviously the witnesses are all out there wearing the green jersey. However, are they seeing a significant shift towards the political parties to have a socialist ethos or a Christian democratic ethos through the EPP, the Socialist Group or the ALDE Group?

The witnesses each represent different regions which have different pressures. In most instances I know they would agree. However, do they find there are issues on which there are challenges or differences?

The first idea of the three, the medium-term strategy and the structured relationship are obvious, but the idea of the forum is quite important. A large number of groups represent Ireland and they do great work out there. Does everybody know what everybody else is doing, particularly in the area of yellow cards and other cards, and European scrutiny? We are a very small country and we do not divide up the jobs as efficiently as we should do. Perhaps the forum might be a good way, through this committee, of starting a dialogue in that regard.