Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late for the Minister of State's presentation this morning. Following on from Deputy Howlin's comments on how we engage better with communities and the public, I put down a question to the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Peter Burke, about a European affairs officer in each local authority and setting up a strategic policy committee, SPC, at local authority level so that people on the ground would be more in touch with what is actually happening at European level. That does not seem to be his Department. What sort of budget does the Minister of State get in the Department of Foreign Affairs for something like that? Does he get anything? What is the budget for European affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs? Is this something the Department could look into?

How should European governing bodies deal with a Eurosceptic leader in another EU country? I know that before the Italian general election, Ursula von der Leyen made a comment that they had tools to deal with Italy if it went in a difficult direction. What is the Minister of State's opinion on that top-down approach?