Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. It is always good to get information back from people engaging with communities with regard to democracy and attitudes towards democracy in the country. Things are changing globally. Things are changing massively on an EU level. If we were to look at the changes that have taken place from 2024 right back to 2019 and the data we have been given, we can see that there has been a rise in respect of Eurosceptics and the centre-right parties coming into politics.

The witnesses have given us one view regarding attitudes and disadvantaged areas and what is considered to be a disadvantaged area and a working-class area. Much of our country now is actually working class. I worry about the gap that exists between the citizen and the power balance. This is something we need to engage more on. Those of us working on the ground would certainly not be distanced from what citizens want. There is that distance certainly when it comes to the European Parliament. There is the distance from the system. Very few people know the value of what the European Parliament can bring to local and national democracy. There is a distance there and the gap needs to be met. How we do this is a challenge for each and every one of us.

Regarding "the rise of the far right", I do not like that term. It is a throw-out label for people who have a different view to that of others. We need to engage more. A comment was made by Deputy Howlin regarding Viktor Orbán who holds the EU Presidency and how people got up and applauded. It must be realised that he is a democratically elected member of the European Union and does have a large number of representatives who believe in his message and in what they are trying to do. It is not good for democracy to shut out somebody like that. It is always good to sit around the table to try to understand what their needs are and to see if we can meet them. This is extremely important.

How do we engage more with citizens to ensure they can believe they are very much part of the process when it comes to democracy and are relevant? The erosion of sovereignty is another issue that the ordinary citizen has.