Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation. I am not a member of the Oireachtas joint committee. However, I felt that I should attend this afternoon because I was a member of the Committee of the Regions for a number of years prior to 2002. I worked with Constance Hanniffy for a number of years on the committee. I can see that Mr. John Crowley is also in attendance and he worked on the committee at that time.

The work of the Committee of the Regions and its members goes largely unnoticed and their work is undervalued. I welcome the fact that the delegation was invited to make a presentation today, and that presentation is long overdue. I hope that as a result of its presentation today, the Committee of the Regions will be invited to participate in an overall forum and that it will become a lot more involved nationally with this committee, MEPs and so on. It would ensure that we present a united front and a united team that knows what each other is doing and, as we said, wears the green jersey. That is very important.

I was a member of the Committee of the Regions and, at that time, we felt undervalued. We were given a task to do and worked to the best of our ability but we got little or no recognition and were only brought in when it was felt that we could be useful. I hope that attitude has changed. There is a need for greater recognition of the work done by the Committee of the Regions and its members on the behalf of this country and the region. I take this opportunity to compliment each and every member on the work that they do as part of the committee and wish them well in the future.