Mr. Enda Stenson:

I thank the Chairman and members of committee for inviting us. As a member of the Committee of the Regions and an independent member of Leitrim County Council, it is a great honour for me to be here and I am grateful for the invitation.

I would like to summarise our position and underline what we would like to see in the NRP. In the Irish context, the approach to Europe 2020 and the national reform programme process have plenty of room for improvement. As we see it, discussion on national targets is essentially confined within a number of Government Departments, with measures selected largely from existing national policy documents to achieve them. Ireland is not alone in this regard, but the centralised and closed nature of the process here is particularly acute.

Later this year, the mid–term review of the Europe 2020 strategy is due to be presented. It is likely that attention will be drawn to the need for greater partnership in the development, ownership and implementation of national reform plans. We would also expect to see expression of the need for more regionally differentiated targets.

This year in the Irish NRP we hope to see, as a general approach, at least a recognition of regional disparities and the need for specific policy actions at regional level. Unfortunately, this was not visible in the draft programme circulated to stakeholders.

In relation to the future Irish NRPs, we would welcome increased consultation with stakeholders at local and regional levels. We would advocate giving a clear territorial dimension by setting regionally differentiated targets, with regional indicators to assess progress in a process that would include all relevant tiers of governance.

This is what we are proposing when it comes to the Europe 2020 strategy and how its targets can be achieved effectively – a whole-of-Government approach. This includes national, regional and local government as well as other agencies and key stakeholders.

With a new national planning framework to succeed the national spatial strategy expected in 2016, we would expect to see more coherence and consistency with regard to economic, social and territorial planning. Development of the NRPs must be part of, and contribute to, this coherence.

Future national reform programmes should be compatible with, and must inform, the priorities of the regional spatial and economic strategies, which in turn provide a framework for local economic and community plans.

In this context, we would therefore like to see the Department of the Taoiseach provide a roadmap for a more structured, continuous and constructive engagement with NRP stakeholders after the mid-term review.

I would briefly like to mention one other relevant issue concerning climate change targets. On 1 April, milk quotas were finally abolished and this has liberated Irish milk farmers and processors to do more of what we are among the best in the world at doing.

Last week, I was pleased that the Committee of the Regions formally adopted my recommendation that EU climate change and food security policies need to be reconciled so that the most carbon-efficient and environmentally-sustainable agricultural production systems are supported. Irish food production has an extremely low carbon footprint, but we cannot take things for granted. Our farmers - I am a farmer myself - and scientists must continue to improve our adaptation and mitigation measures so that our potential to sustainably produce food is not threatened. I will leave it at that Chairman but we would be happy to respond to any questions and comments members may have.