Mr. Billy Kelleher:

President Macron was the first person to propose a Conference on the Future of Europe. When he launched it, he said to propose all necessary changes for a political project, without any taboos, not even treaty change. There must be a certain element of urgency in Ireland about where we see ourselves in Europe because the Conference on the Future of Europe could become very much a federalist agenda and if Ireland is content with that, then that is fine. I believe, however, that we should very much know where we want to position ourselves in Europe and how we see Europe in the years ahead. We cannot take Europe and Ireland's place in Europe for granted. It should be borne in mind that only ten or 12 years ago, there was a strong anti-European sentiment in Ireland during the financial crisis. That very quickly turned on its head because of Brexit and, let us be honest, it will be the European Union taking on the United Kingdom and standing up for Ireland. However, we can never take those things for granted.

I would love if the committee got stuck into the Conference on the Future of Europe to find out where Ireland wants to position itself and then for us collectively, as a nation politically united, to try to argue that case in the European context and direct Europe in the way we believe it should be. I thank the committee and wish it well.