Councillor John Sheahan:

Thank you, Chairman, for the invite here today and for the hospitality you have shown us. I am probably the newest member of the COR, having only joined less than two years ago. This is a very helpful meeting today to record the wishes of the COR members. I believe there is a disconnect between the MEPs, regional authorities and local government level. Perhaps that disconnect even exists with these Houses, and we need to look at that. When people speak about EU legislation or EU directives, we often find that they are being introduced more with a stick than a carrot. The reason for that is the lack of interaction between the different bodies prior to the introduction of the legislation. We are striving to change that. When we go out to wear the Irish jersey, even though we wear our parish jerseys, we need to go out with a knowledge of what exactly is the country's position on the different issues coming before us. We are only an advisory body and sometimes in Europe, one can cry very loudly and not be heard. At least if we are all singing off the one hymn sheet, it will definitely help us in the future.

Some of the funding we are talking about is grant aided. It is tedious to get through the funding applications. They are a bit unwieldy. I agree that the local authorities and some of the regional authorities are not up to speed with how to apply for them and how to structure them. Much of it would need a more regional based approach, because there are some large funds out there that we can tap into, now that we are in a different climate at home. We need to present our cases a lot better in respect of the grant aid that we can draw down from Europe. If we interact more with Members of these Houses and with our MEPs and get rid of the current disconnect, perhaps the Chairman can drive that from this committee with the new members of the COR after May, because we are going to have change.