Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State here today and wish him well. It is a great time to be the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs as we head into the second half of next year.

To state the obvious, it is so important that we maximise the impact of Ireland's Presidency next year. There is so much at stake. It is really important that we deliver a successful Presidency in terms of enhancing and advancing Ireland's influence across the European Union. It may be an unusual question but is the Minister of State satisfied that the Presidency is well-resourced financially? There is a commitment in the programme for Government to bring some of the high-level meetings to the regions. I am not sure if that is a 20% figure. I argue that is not enough. We should be bringing more meetings to the regions. Dublin Castle is obviously going to be the main venue but I firmly believe Europe is in every town, village and community across the country so we should bear that in mind. I champion south Tipperary as the perfect destination for a high-level meeting. I mention my own town of Clonmel but also the historic towns of Cashel, Carrick-on-Suir, Cahir, Fethard and Tipperary.