Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome both Mr. Hayes and Ms Boylan and congratulate them on their election. I wish them well in their roles. They have a tighter geographical area than their colleagues representing the western region, or whatever it is called now, which is a huge geographical area. It was formerly the midlands-west region.

Mr. Jacob outlined the nomination process for Commissioners and noted that the full Commission is voted upon. It seems strange that each individual Commissioner is not voted upon. That was obviously decided by someone else. If there are objections to individual Commission candidates, how is that highlighted to the relevant person? What is the process? If the majority of people or a significant number of people have an objection to just one individual candidate, it seems strange that confirmation of the full Commission would be delayed.

The Chairman touched on the issue of committees of which there are no Irish members. As a western Deputy representing Galway West, it is of particular concern that the Committee on Regional Development will have no Irish MEP as a member. Given Ireland's concerns and ensuring Ireland's priorities are represented, how do the 11 Irish MEPs engage with that committee? Is it within their groups? Are they getting minutes of all meetings? I presume so. Have they representatives that sit in the gallery and find out exactly what is going on?

On the hearings today with Mr. Phil Hogan, which I am sure Mr. Hayes was watching at some stage, there was an attempt to scupper his nomination. This goes against the grain of all Irish MEPs working in the common interest of the country. I noted with interest that the Sinn Féin nominee objected to Mr. Hogan, as is his right, but the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland had issued a letter to Mr. Hogan congratulating him on his role and hoping that they would work together and promote common issues. There is a lot of commonality between North and South in terms of agriculture issues and it is a very important role. Will Mr. Hayes comment on that?

Ms Boylan mentioned the issue of Gaza and Senator Reilly touched on it as well. That is a very serious issue considering the conflict there. Can Ms Boylan tell the committee if there is cross-party commonality or cross-party support on the issue of EU projects being bombed by Israel? Ms Boylan's group would be focused on the issue. Are there other groups that are also focused on the issue? Will Mr. Hayes also comment on that? There was a comment by Benjamin Netanyahu some time ago that international support will be required to rebuild Gaza. That is a little hard to take, notwithstanding the right of Israel to defend itself.

On the UK referendum, I am not sure if there are many people in the UK who would be too concerned about how Ireland views the referendum. Maybe some business people would be concerned. The ordinary voter might not be too worried about what Ireland thinks about it. If there is to be renegotiation of certain aspects of the treaty, does Mr. Hayes think this will open up the possibility of other countries similarly seeking renegotiation? Does he think the fabric of the various treaties will fall apart?

On the single energy market, we are losing competitiveness to the USA. It is important we ensure we can continue to attract industry to Europe. How is this progressing? Do the witnesses think the instability in the Ukraine and the concerns about Russian gas and so forth has expedited this process? Do they have any timescale on the issue?