Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. I welcome the ambassador and his staff and thank him for setting out his broad objectives and how he intends to reach a position on them over the next number of months.

I wish to raise some issues that have been outstanding for some time, one of which is banking union. What role can Dr. Apals play in driving that agenda? From our economic perspective it is quite important, and as a nation we recognise its importance. There is a level of frustration among the citizens of this country. Decisions were taken at a Council meeting in June 2012, when the Government was able to leave the meeting in the belief that it had received a ground-breaking deal on the capacity to get support from the ESM to assist in the retrospective recapitalisation of our banks. At the time we were told that decision would be subject to a finalisation of banking union.

It is no wonder that citizens lose interest in the European project when they see that we are now heading for the middle of 2015 and banking union has not happened. It now looks like the decisions which were taken then are not considered relevant by the current Government or will not happen. That is a domestic issue, and we will hold the Government to account on it in the Parliament. From a European perspective, there is quite a lot of annoyance among citizens who are still waiting for the baking union to progress.

From a European perspective, there is much annoyance among the citizens still awaiting the progression of banking union because of the lack of cohesive banking regulation throughout the Union. Some believe this had a significant impact on our banks during the financial crisis, as did the lending practices which prevailed at the time. The ambassador spoke about digital Europe, which is extremely important. We have issues here with the roll-out of broadband but they are domestic. Where the citizens of this country saw phenomenal benefits associated with our membership of Europe was with regard to roaming charges being harmonised or eliminated. This is where we can really show the benefits of working in a co-operative environment. However, the telecommunications companies are still creaming off and increasing profits by virtue of roaming charges on the use of data. It is hardly any wonder that roaming charges have reduced on voice telephony when one considers many people have moved to a data environment and this is where the market is at for them. Does Latvia intend to try to push this agenda, with regard to reducing charges for data for those travelling within and between member states?

The ambassador also spoke about the security issue, and it is significant and right that he would do so, with regard to trying to get a level of further co-operation in light of the threat. Comments have been made by certain individuals in the UK who believe a particular airport in Ireland is considered to be a legitimate target for acts of aggression. This is misconceived. The action spoken about never happened. Notwithstanding this, the Irish Government is clearly concerned about it. How does Latvia intend to formulate a way of dealing with this perceived threat?