Ms Marie Cross:

Trade is a European Commission competence. The policies and directions given are developed through committee meetings in Brussels at which departmental officials liaise with trade representatives. The Government is effectively giving direction and a mandate to the Commission to negotiate trade agreements. In the sense that there is democratic legitimacy, member state governments have the say in giving the Commission a mandate to negotiate.

Should we have an embassy in each member state? It has been my experience that we have deep relationships within the European Union in every area of domestic and international business. It is impossible to contemplate the extensive relations we have with member states without having a representative present in each capital. Before each Council meeting, the agendas go out and each ambassador is called to the relevant ministry where he or she is briefed on the member state’s attitude on each of the agenda items.

There is an incredible series of linkages between EU member states. The depth of the relationship is such that it seems impossible to contemplate that one would not have a representative in each member state where our interests are so intertwined.

The other question was on the UK's backing away. This is a very serious issue for Ireland and we are extremely anxious about it. All our representatives are liaising closely with EU representatives. The organisation where I work, the future of Europe group in the IIEA, has had many visitors from Britain to discuss EU business. We have used every opportunity to inform them of our view on the great value of the EU as an institution to each member, including the UK, and how retrograde it would be for the EU to lose a country such as the UK. Every layer of politics and officialdom is talking to its counterpart in the UK and doing everything possible to assist in informing and persuading.

The other question was on what bilateral relationships we should cultivate that would be of more use to us and where we should focus. We have always been close to similar-sized member states such as the Nordic countries and the Benelux countries, but we should also keep in close contact with other member states such as the central and eastern Europeans. In the political and security area, our close alignments are with Sweden and Finland, with whom we serve very closely in military missions, and with the Netherlands, which is relatively similar in size. We must be careful to maintain networks with all member states. For example, in the non-external relations area, we need other countries to be persuaded to vote and support our positions. It is hefty work maintaining networks but the countries of similar size are probably our closest neighbours and interlocutors.

Deputy Durkan asked about our decreasing influence in the European Parliament due to our decreasing numbers. It is a factor that if we are reduced in the Parliament we should keep in closer touch with the member states in capitals. I take his point about the military aspects, the vacuum caused by US withdrawal, Bosnia and NATO. The EU still has a mission in Bosnia, where it has contributed significantly to the peace and where there is still much unrest. On the WTO, we have committees keeping track of that.

Deputy O'Reilly spoke about interpersonal relationships in promoting business, and I made the case for that, and the mission statements on foreign policy. He mentioned retrospective compensation. The Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade are working very closely together on this. There was a commitment by the 2012 Heads of State and Government to examine that and I have no doubt it is still very much on the agenda. I know something about the Irish diaspora because it was in my area in the Department of Foreign Affairs, as was the Irish emigrant fund. My experience over the few years I looked after that and visited the emigrant communities in Britain in that context was that it is quite well funded. The organisations we spoke to were satisfied that they had sufficient funding at that time - two years ago - to deal with the number of Irish coming to them.

In those Irish centres I encountered a reduction in the number of Irish people coming in, but other nationalities were coming to them and were not being turned away. I agree with the Deputy about the older Irish but it was interesting that the people in the centres tell us the recent Irish emigrants seem to be able to look after themselves. They have friends and they are on the Internet making connections. The rise in the number of other nationalities coming in was a factor. One hears about difficulties encountered by the people in Australia, but the embassy there and the consulate in Sydney would be very well aware of that.

Deputy Kyne asked about energy, which I will leave to Dr. Ivory. Regarding human rights, the role of Russia in EU energy is a factor. It is a major energy producer and that is always on the agenda. It has been used before as a mechanism. The EU continuously issues statements on human rights and raises it in meetings with the Russians, particularly in the recent EU-Russia summit. They raise these issues, particularly the issue of lesbian and gay rights and the Russian attitude to that. That is always raised at a high level. We keep a close watch on human rights in Africa. We have a very good spread of missions in Africa. They started as development aid offices and are now full embassies, so they have a political mandate as well as an aid mandate. They work very closely on that and will report on all negative aspects of human rights and allow the policies to be adjusted in that regard.