Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My first question relates to the post-Brexit scenario. When I was a member of the European Committee of the Regions, there was significant input from members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and councillors from Northern Ireland to our work and it was very important in the build-up to Brexit to hear those voices, whether unionist, nationalist or other, ringing in about how it would impact on the ground in terms of local application, bearing in mind the level of devolved responsibilities to the Executive and the Assembly for implementing the protocol. A proposal at European Parliament level, suggested by Barry Andrews MEP, was that observer status be given to representatives from Northern Ireland. Is that something the European Committee of the Regions could do? Could it be pushed for across political parties?

All three of our guests referred to the Conference on the Future of Europe, which I attended with Mr. Tzitzikostas, Deputy Ó Murchú and Councillor McCarthy. I recall that some of Mr. Tzitzikostas's interventions were very similar to points made by Councillor Feeney. Many of the suggestions we received from citizens related to actions the EU was already taking, although perhaps it was not doing them well enough or perhaps it simply was not telling people about them. One point I have been making long term in regard to the European Union and all the institutions in its collective is that it is great at telling people how they can give out about the European Union but it is not great at telling people how they can benefit from it. This relates to citizens as well as elected representatives, and it is clear that in our local authorities, a dearth of information and resources is available to officials to ensure they can draw down enough funding and work with other local and regional authorities throughout the European Union. Both Councillor Feeney and Councillor Murphy have made a fairly direct challenge to the members of this committee, but the challenge in reverse relates to what the European Union and its institutions - whether the European Committee of the Regions, the Commission, the Parliament, the Council or the European Economic and Social Committee, our guests' co-tenants - are going to do. How can we ensure they will also seek to burst the bubble in Brussels, Strasbourg or wherever it may be?

I thank all our guests for attending. We had a great meeting in the previous term with one of Mr. Tzitzikostas's predecessors, Mr. Markku Markkula. Now that Covid has lifted to an extent, being able to have these meetings in person and not over Zoom is a very welcome change.