Mr. Seán Kelly:

Cosúil le mo chomhghleacaithe, tá an-áthas orm bheith leis an coiste inniu. Míle buíochas as ucht an cuireadh agus as ucht dul go dtí Parlaimint na hEorpa cúpla seachtain ó shin. Bhí an-chaidreamh eadrainn agus leanfaidh sé sin ar aghaidh amach anseo.

I agree with Ms McGuinness that Brexit has focused European minds on the future of Europe. Part of the failing that led to Brexit was a lack of true engagement with citizens. Subsequent to the vote, we found out that many of them were googling, "What is the EU?" One of the ways to communicate further with citizens is through national parliaments. If we have closer liaison and discussion, we will obviously have closer relationships with citizens. One cannot bypass national parliaments or regional governments at European level and say one is going to engage with citizens directly.

My next point is on legislation. The more input we have at national parliament level, the better our legislation will be. Many of the proposals we receive have a direct impact on individual countries. While we often engage with vested interests and stakeholders, we probably do not have enough direct input from national parliaments. We receive it from the Permanent Representation which does a great job in Europe, but perhaps we should have more discussion at committee level with the elected representatives on how we should proceed. All that would help us to create a Europe that was more connected to its citizens through more engagement with national parliaments. Committee members have made a great start by coming to meet us. We have come to meet them. That has to be positive and we look forward to further engagement.

It might not be the sexiest thing ever to be involved in European affairs because it does not always attract the attention of the media. Nevertheless, it is very important because most of our legislation - 60% - starts at European level. Therefore, we have to communicate properly with the directly elected Members of national parliaments. That is a good start. I thank the committee.