Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Hopefully we will have an opportunity to discuss her full paper when she submits it. This committee, Parliament and the Government have to be very strong within the 27 member states negotiating with Britain to advocate our interests and it is in our interests that Britain gets the best possible deal with the EU because of our historical trading relationships and interdependence. There is a huge amount of bilateral contact. This committee met the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr. Frans Timmermans. We outlined our concerns about Brexit and how it would affect all of our island and we told Mr. Timmermans what we needed the EU to address in the negotiations. We met with the House of Commons select committee on exiting the European Union, chaired by Hilary Benn, MP, and our colleagues from the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs have held various meetings in Brussels. There is a huge amount of bilateral contact at Oireachtas and Government level to outline Ireland's concerns and where we want the negotiations to end up.

Dr. Devine quite rightly referred to the lack of confidence in the EU following the failure to support small countries when the global economic crash happened. When there was a threat to some of the major economies the European Central Bank put in quantitative easing, which would have made a huge difference if it was activated a few years earlier. There has been a lack of governance and Germany and France have exercised dominance for several years, such as by calling summit meetings. Comments made by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, were very unhelpful to Ireland when we faced particular economic challenges. Despite these things, the most recent eurobarometer poll showed that 67% of the Irish people believe we are better within the European Union than outside. Ireland is still positive about Europe, though that does not mean we should not be critical because we have good reason to be critical over what did not happen for a few years.