Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates not only for their presentations but also for their ongoing work. We have been set a challenge and, in fairness to Senator Keogan, she was the first to advocate for having European affairs officers.

We have been set a challenge. In fairness to Senator Keogan, she was first regarding the EU officers. It would be a wonderful way to mark Ireland's 50th anniversary as an EU member if every local authority had a fully-funded EU officer. I was struck when attending an event recently, hosted by the Bonniconlon Irish Countrywomen's Association to mark Ireland's 50 years of membership. It was the biggest event in an Irish town I had seen for a European event. It was not put as some sort of technical lecture about the EU. On the day, people were encouraged to provide their memories of the referendum, those who were around at the time of the referendum, and their memories of the debate. Yes, there were the usual inputs from the bubble, as Councillor Feeney said, about how great we are and how great we have become because of the EU. It was, however, the personal inputs and the personal stories and reflections on the difference that EU membership has made to families and to farms that had resonance on the day.

As a committee we must take the challenge. I was particularly struck by the warnings in Mr. Tzitzikostas' final remarks. As we get into our 50th year let it not be a year of ribbon-cutting and patting ourselves on the back. Let us actually leave something behind. Moving forward with the EU officers might be some way to do that. Mr. Tzitzikostas used the phrase "anonymous European funds". They have become more anonymous here since we have become, as Councillor Feeney remarked, a net contributor. We no longer seem to want to realise that EU funds, including the LEADER fund and the European Social Fund, fund much of our third and fourth level education. This has made the disconnect worse. Obviously there is the EU officers' role, but what other initiatives could we take to address this disconnect?

Councillor Murphy was at pains to emphasise that the narrative at local level across the UK was different from that in Westminster. They were also told this before Brexit. We were told this before the referendum, and that the vote was not going the way the media saw it. The regions that benefited most in financial investment by those anonymous EU funds voted to leave in the biggest numbers. I am referring to the fishing regions and the port regions. Holyhead, for example, had massive investment in its port from those anonymous EU funds, yet the region had one of the biggest leave votes. How are we going to correct that disconnect?

On a completely unrelated question, one of the biggest consequences of the war in Ukraine is the number of local representatives who have been kidnapped or murdered just because they were local representatives and had a mandate. This question is for the president or the delegation. What role has the council taken in highlighting this since 24 February, in keeping attention on that? They are like you and they are like all of us here. They are local representatives. Some of them have paid with their freedom and some have paid with their lives because they are local representatives.