Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegations for their presentations. This engagement has been very informative regarding the work of the Committee of the Regions. I thank the president of the committee for his comments on the protocol and the solidarity he has shown to us. I also acknowledge the comment he made about the challenges with regard to the Ukrainian refugees, and children in particular, and the work he is doing there.

I am conscious of the time factor and I have only two questions. The first one is for the president. He spoke about the need to bring Europe closer to the citizens, how that can be done and the role of the Committee of the Regions in that regard. I wish to expand on that with regard to geopolitics generally. President Biden has spoken about the battle between democracy and autocracy throughout the world. We have some experience of that manifesting itself in Europe with respect to rule of law issues and the Brexit vote in 2016. I refer to the battle between internationalism and unilateralism and the need for a rules-based international order. The president spoke about bringing Europe closer to the citizens. Does he envisage the Committee of the Regions having a role to play in that wider debate between autocracy and democracy? Are the two concepts related?

With regard to Councillor Murphy and Councillor Feeney, we have touched on the issue of local government reform. We are in the presence of a former Minister with responsibility for local government. We realise we have a very centralised form of government in Ireland. Does the Irish delegation of the Committee of the Regions have a view on having a directly elected mayor for Dublin or any other local authority? Perhaps there is considerable division among the delegation about that. I do not mean this in a condescending way but have the councillors made a submission to the Citizens' Assembly on having a directly elected mayor?