Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I always feel a victim of the previous speaker. The Minister of State is welcome and I wish him luck in the meeting of the General Affairs Council. We heard there are five issues to be addressed, one of which is the country-specific recommendations. This committee had an excellent presentation from Dr. Seamus Coffey and I now have a question for the Minister of State. Why has the Commission dropped the country-specific recommendations from seven to four? Dr. Coffey explained to us in plain language that the legal services issue is the biggest rip-off in this country and the biggest financial drain on Exchequer resources vis-à-visothers such as lone parent's allowance.

Will the Minister of State give a commitment to this committee that he will resurrect this issue in Europe and demand that it be put back in for our analysis and action in the future? One of the items the Minister of State will deal with is a new action plan on strategic communications to counter misinformation campaigns in the union’s eastern neighbourhood. That is short for saying we lost the propaganda war with the Russians. Russian radio and television stations have bombarded Ukraine. Moldova is having serious trouble with the corruption exposed in the socialist party there, it being the most pro-Russian party. Georgia is very worried about the activities in this field. How does the Minister of State think Europe or Ireland will play a role and in what capacity to counter the black propaganda that comes from the Russians vis-à-vis the eastern partnership?

Greece is chaotic. It is deemed to be ultra-leftist, which is the majority but there is also an extremely right-wing constituency in that government. How does the Minister of State see the chaos that will result if the threats of a particular right-wing Minister in that government open the floodgates of immigration into Europe? It is speaking as a member of the EU.