Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)

I thank both witnesses for coming in, and for preparing and giving us these valuable insights. The only polls that actually matter, as we say on this side of the table at least, are elections and referendums. As we go towards those kinds of political touchpoints with people, what I have heard indicates there is a lot of work to do. As was noted, it is the lowest level of support for the EU since records began. That notably takes into account the troika programme and austerity periods. It is the lowest in terms of the right direction as well.

I am also keenly disturbed by the lack of trust in institutions. If we look at 40% of people not trusting any institution at all, whether that is "down here" or "up there", we then have a problem ahead of us in restoring that confidence for people, not just at national level but also at European level. If I am to turn a corner a little in talking about problems and solutions, that is where I will focus a lot of my questions. Something I have been reflecting on a lot is that dissonance on foreign policy between people in Ireland and what we hear from European institutions, particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How do we bridge those kinds of gaps politically, when they emerge, between what is being said in Brussels and what is being felt in the citizen population?

The other thing that is a major deficit in the European Union more generally is we do not talk enough about social programmes. I have a quip I like to say to some of my rural compatriots, which is that CAP is the most socialist programme I have ever heard of and is the most socialist project of the European Union. I would like to see more programmes like that, when we talk about things like housing and the cost of living, and we look at the multi-annual financial framework. When the Danish ambassador was here last week, he said that Denmark is keenly getting focused on how it will reprioritise CAP and the cohesion policy to other priorities. I might disagree with what those priorities might be, but I would like to see things on social programmes for housing and those kinds of things. How will that CAP ethos being applied to other things play in getting a solution, connecting with people and building trust in institutions?

There is a fracturing in the media environment here. When I counted it up, 52% of respondents got most of their information on the EU online or through social media. It is 32% down here, so there is a dissonance and fragmentation here. When we think about Dublin's specific role in the European Union, there are things such as social media regulation, data protection and how big tech is actually performing. I would like to hear a little more about how the democracy shield might play into that, into national legislation in respect of social media and into media fragmentation more generally.

I could not agree more that migration is rarely talked about positively by a lot of people at European level but also policymakers more generally. When people are going across borders, whether these are real or imagined, a huge amount of positive things happen in helping people with persecution and war. There are also the very positive contributions migrants have made in Ireland, as we did in other countries, going back historically, maybe to 1952. I thank the representatives for their contributions. Any way they can answer those questions on those three areas will be very helpful.