Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending today and for making their presentations. The conversation is very worthwhile. Councillor Sheahan and Councillor Hanniffy probably get my e-mails on a weekly basis, if they do not delete them. I am the spokesperson for the Government on European affairs in the Seanad and I quite regularly deal with things that are happening in Europe and try to release to the media certain things that are coming down the tracks. I am picking up on words today and those that have been repeated the most are "disconnect", "communication" and "lack of understanding" with Europe.

That applies at all levels where Europe is concerned. I agree with Councillor Constance Hanniffy who said there is a lack of understanding and engagement with the European Union and it is a big problem across the board from councillors to Senators, Deputies, MEPs and the media. The European Union is such a complicated institution that the general public is lost as to what exactly occurs. Very little recognition is given to Europe for the good things that happen there. The Chairman mentioned that we were in Brussels and had discussions around the plain packaging of cigarettes which hit the headlines. There are so many good things that happen that affect people's daily lives that are not highlighted. Communication across the board is an ongoing problem.

Deputy Dara Calleary asked a question I was going to ask about communication. Is there a communication channel in place for the Committee of the Regions, councillors or whoever is interested to access legislation coming down the tracks or are councillors in the same position as me in that I have to search for it? Perhaps there could be some nexus involving Europe. The one thing that came across in a big way when we were in Europe is that Europe is a very effective communicator, but communication is two-way and has to be picked up by people.

On the question of MEPs, I certainly think there is a willingness on their part to be more engaged. It was highlighted to us the number of committees they are required to be on, how tied they are timewise and how difficult it is for them. We can have very little representation on certain issues, for example, on the foreign affairs committee we do not have any representation from any MEP from any political party from Ireland. This highlights the fact that issues such as agriculture, fisheries and so on are much more important to us. It was interesting to understand how stretched are the MEPs. That does not help the communications issue either between MEPs and ourselves and between MEPs and themselves.

On the point about the green jersey which everybody repeats and which Deputy Bernard Durkan mentioned, Mr. Seán Kelly gave a very interesting example of how the green jersey was worn over there on a fisheries issue and how he just happened to meet Mr. Pat the Cope Gallagher. This goes back to the 1980s when we got extra fishing rights to make up for the fact that we did not have as many as we had previously. I will not bore the committee with the detail of it but the basic point was Mr. Seán Kelly and Mr. Pat the Cope Gallagher happened to meet each other and he happened to be going in to vote, and it meant he was able to ask a few of the EPP members around him to vote for it, saying it would not affect them but would help Ireland. That is an illustration of how the MEPs need to communicate with one another but, in practice, it is difficult because these people are busy living in Europe trying to get to everything they have to attend. They mentioned that there is room for them to meet up among themselves.

The last issue was the forum idea suggested by the witnesses. I had suggested such a forum for MEPs generally on a regional basis, perhaps twice a year, where they would have an opportunity to communicate what they are doing in Europe and to get feedback from the public, councillors or whoever. Certainly, I would be interested in a forum such as that suggested by Councillor Paul O'Donoghue. I thank the witnesses and hopefully we will meet soon again.