Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

The witnesses are very welcome. It is about timing and questions; how they are framed and so on. I was fascinated by the graph at the start of the poll, which, through the years, indicated whether people thought Ireland should remain a member of the EU. What happened in 2019 that it was so high at 93%? This is in the context of 2020 and 2021, which were the Covid years. Did that have an impact? Some countries stated they were going to produce their own vaccine and so on. It was 88% in 2022 and 2023, when there was the invasion of Ukraine. It can be seen how events feature in people's thinking on EU membership. Is there any particular factor in 2025?

I will move to the second question in the poll, "Do you think the EU is moving in the right direction?".

I am wondering whether the drop in belief that the EU shares the Irish people's goals would be attributable, for instance, to something as simple as maybe Commissioner von der Leyen's position on Israel and militarisation. That really jarred with people, particularly on this isle. Would that be a factor?

The responses North and South on Ireland's influence in the EU were interesting. One is looking in and one is looking out. It was interesting that 49% were satisfied with our influence, while 36% were not. Those are big numbers. Do the witnesses have any insight on that?

The united Ireland issue really jumps out in the survey. I presume there will be coverage of that. Even on that, the interesting point is that no one is talking of a united Ireland being outside the EU. Maybe micro-groups are, but it is certainly not the mainstream. That is positive.

The migration figures are understandable. It is dependent on what was happening at the time as well. If we were looking at some of the scenes relating to the Mediterranean graveyard or the issues with people travelling to Britain in boats, etc., that frames people's minds. Would it have been different if we had asked this question a couple of weeks ago in the context of what was happening in Ballymena? We are all over the place in relation to migration, compared with the approaches of some other countries.

I have asked loads of questions and the witnesses will have only a minute and half to answer. I thank them again for their survey.