Mr. Colm O'Gorman:

I thank the Chairman. We fully appreciate that there are always questions of competency at the EU level.

We are mindful that those same questions exist, for instance, in moves being adopted to address the financial crisis. When we examine some of the challenges that the EU is faced with, and some of the issues that the EU Presidency is tied up in and trying to address, we realise that EU competency around banking regulation, etc., is an ongoing challenge. Let us take the financial crisis as an example. The EU was founded on the principle of human rights. If we really are committed to it then Europe must find a way to resolve the competency questions, no matter how long it takes. We encourage the committee, as legislators, to try to address and find solutions to the competency questions. The committee, post-Lisbon treaty, has played a particular role and that is why we are grateful that it gave us so much time this afternoon.