Mr. Matt Carthy:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cheann Comhairle agus an choiste as ucht an deis a thabhairt dom labhairt anseo inniú. I thank the committee for the invitation. I agree, without repeating what has been said, that this is an important engagement that should be repeated as often as possible.

We are in a big, arguably defining moment in the European Union. At some point in the not-too-distant future, there will be treaty change and that treaty will, more than likely, have to be put to the Irish people. I hope when it comes to that point, we will have a national conversation that deals with the content and direction of that treaty and that we can make an informed decision, but we need to start that conversation before the referendum is called and the treaty is effectively locked down because we know what will happen at that occasion. We will be told we need to vote "Yes" for jobs and either we support this treaty or we leave the EU, and we will have conversations around that.

There has been a difficulty and we need to acknowledge that the EU is in a challenging period. The most welcome political development of the past year or so was the fact that only 35% of the French people voted for a fascist. However, the citizens of Europe are ringing alarm bells and we need to listen to and engage with them.

If one looks at where the problems in which the EU finds itself arise, I would go back to the European Union constitution agreed by European leaders and put to electorates. The electorates in France and The Netherlands rejected it. That was the moment the EU could have woken up and realised it needed to change direction. Instead, it came up with a formula by which it could effectively agree the same constitution but rework it in such a way that it would not have to be put to electorates. The formula it found was the Lisbon treaty, which was a convoluted series of amendments to existing treaties. It achieved its goal and managed to avoid having to go to electorates, except, as the committee will be aware, in our case. The Irish people voted, not once but twice, and people had their own positions in relation to it. Sinn Féin is the only party in this country that can say hand on heart that it accepted the democratic decision in every referendum that has been put because we accepted the democratic decision of the Nice treaty on the first occasion and even though we lost on the second occasion, we accepted that, and likewise, with the Lisbon treaty.

There was a promise given by David Cameron, when he first became leader of the Tory Party, that he would put the Lisbon treaty to a referendum in Britain but because of pressure from the European institutions, he back-tracked on that. We would be in a much better situation today had he upheld that promise and the people of Britain had that referendum because we would not have the Lisbon treaty, but more than likely, we would not have Brexit either.

Something the committee needs to be aware of when we talk about this important engagement is the fact we are a really small delegation in the European Parliament. There are 14 MEPs from the island of Ireland. There are, to put it in context, 24 UKIP MEPs. It is incredibly difficult for us to remain on top, in so far as we would like, of every development coming through the European Parliament and we need to recognise that. There are 14 Irish MEPs out of 751. When one puts it in context, the Germans have 97. Almost one in seven MEPs is German. Arguably, because of its population, it could be entitled to even more but one can see the difficulty of smaller countries asserting themselves in the European Parliament.

Luke 'Ming' Flanagan is correct on this point. Not a single Irish journalist concentrates on European Parliament activities. I am sure there are times when Members of the Oireachtas, as elected representatives, become frustrated that the good work they are doing on committees, in the Seanad and in the Dáil is not getting picked up. Imagine a scenario where there was not a single journalist based here and where the only time one showed up was when a foreign speaker visited or something along those lines. The media in Ireland have a role to play to ensure we engage with people. The Government, and I accept MEPs as well, have a responsibility.

I visit schools, and during Green Week, we usually spend a lot of time visiting schools. When I ask students if there are aspects of the EU they do not like, they will always name four or five decisions the EU has made they do not like. In many cases, they are surprised when I tell them that, as much as they have every right not to like those decisions, it is not entirely Europe's fault because for every one of those decisions, an Irish Minister has sat at the Council table and signed off on it and usually his or her predecessor then points his or her finger at Europe. We need to ensure there is a connection between what is happening at European Parliament level and at Council level and how Irish representatives are responding.

I am pleased Senator Richmond mentioned the CETA trade deal. It is a big deal. I am very critical of the deal, what it entails and how it can be managed. Many Irish people will be surprised to hear that deal is currently being provisionally applied - in other words, it is being implemented prior to national parliaments having a vote on it, and our Minister accepted and signed up to that deal, despite the fact the only conversation or vote that was taken in the Oireachtas was a decision by the Seanad to call on her not to do that. There has not been a debate or a vote in the Dáil, despite the fact the Minister and the Taoiseach have been all over the world selling this deal that they have no democratic mandate from the Oireachtas to do. It is a problem on which we and the committee need to work together to resolve.

Brexit is the biggest challenge we face as a country. Notwithstanding all I have said in terms of a critical analysis of the EU and why it needs to change, the prospect of having one part of our country in the EU and another part outside it will be politically, economically and socially destabilising and could have serious consequences. The Irish Government is not doing enough to address it. Going back to the issue of media engagement with European institutions, there was a torrent of positive media on the Irish Government's position with regard to the Council position on Brexit. It is not strong enough. It is not as strong as the European Parliament's position which, in itself, we would like to be stronger. Many will say the Irish Government had a diplomatic coup because it got what it asked for in the negotiations. It did not ask for enough. It has not been putting forward a strong enough position that will defend the rights of the people in the North who voted remain and defend the rights of the entire island and economic or our political institutions that are under threat as a result of Brexit.

We need to up our game. That means we need the MEPs from across this island as well as committees, such as this one, engaging with each other and engaging with the Government, and putting pressure on the Government to ensure it accepts the majority decision of the Dáil by demanding special designated status, and to go forward at a European level and demand above and beyond what is currently on offer.

The latter is not going to address the needs and wants of people not only in the Border region but also across the island.