Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With respect to section B.4 and EU engagement, much of it is linked with the debate on the future of Europe. As members know, the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, is organising public meetings throughout the country, of which she has had a series. I believe she is in Letterkenny today. One of the problems with debates such as that on the future of Europe is that they often take place in a bubble in which like-minded people speak to each other about Ireland's commitment to the European Union and its future. When decisions are made on the back of some of these debates, the public responds in a way that suggests they were never told that the European Union was moving in that direction. It is one of the reasons we sometimes see disenchantment with how decisions are taken at a European level within European institutions and so on.

We know exactly what is going on in the debate on the future of Europe and want to try to include as many people as we can to ensure all stakeholders will have an opportunity to have an impact on whether a non-governmental organisation wants to extend the European Union's levels of ambitions on the continent of Africa, in the Middle East, in the areas of common security and defence, terrorism and radicalisation or the internal market for banking and financial services. All of these issues are being debated in the context of where the European Union is going and what it will look like in five and ten years's time. If we do not put resources in place to ensure there is a proper conversation taking place nationally, it will not happen and we would then be accused, after decisions are made, of having the elites make decisions. People will say they were never consulted. As a result of the lessons learned in the past, we are trying to address that issue. The Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, is doing a really good job in that respect, although it is difficult to generate much interest in the debate on the future of Europe when much of the debate is dominated by Brexit because of the tensions or drama surrounding the negotiations. We have seen a significant increase in percentage terms in the section, but it is still a relatively modest amount of money, given the importance of the issue.