Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is vitally important that parliamentarians attend the conference on subsidiarity. As I indicated to Mr. Timmermans at a conference some months ago, we must also extend the hand of the European Union to the regions or local authorities because there is a tendency to deal with national parliaments only. The problem is that the Union has difficulty in connecting with citizens. The closest we can get to citizens is through regional or local authorities. Representatives of local and regional authorities should be invited to attend the conference, even if it is only a token number.

Members of the European Commission have visited the Oireachtas. Civil servants who work for the Commission should engage directly with local authorities in order that we bring all elected representatives into the family that is the Union we are trying to strengthen. We have a great deal of work to do to strengthen it. My colleague, Deputy Durkan, is probably the most committed European I know. I would love to see the same level of commitment shown across the country. We must turn the corner and stop blaming Brussels for all of the wrongs and having national parliaments take a bow for all of the nice things.