Councillor Fiona O'Loughlin:

I thank the Chairman for the hospitality shown to us and for his personal interest. I know the invitation to present today came from the Chairman following his attendance at our meeting when he made a commitment to us. Deputy Michelle Mulherin, who has just left us, is a former member of the Committee of the Regions dating back to when we were appointed five years ago. She went on to greater things.

We share a building with the members of the European Economic and Social Committee but we do not have the opportunity to meet them. Often they share the same documents when it comes to contributing to a rapporteurship in respect of the communications from the Commission and the European Parliament. There is a need for all of us to join forces in this area. A point was made by my colleague, Councillor O'Donoghue, in respect of the opportunity to influence legislation. I worked on one particular opinion last year relating to education and skills. We were ahead of the European Parliament and our counterparts there took the document that we had concluded work on and took many of our recommendations for theirs. Certainly, there are opportunities to influence at that stage.