Ms Olive Towey:

We realise the joint committee's role, first and foremost, is to scrutinise European legislation and policy, but we also realise the European Union's negotiating position next year at the two summits mentioned by Ms Kelly will be crucial. The committee can help to shape the Union's position on these key issues. The core message coming from the preparatory processes is that business as usual is not an option in a world which is effectively trying to manage extreme poverty, growing inequality, increased climate volatility and environmental degradation and bold choices must be made. This is far from impossible, but such choices require leadership, bravery and courage to tackle some of the issues head on. We are aware of some of the challenges following the Lima event last week, at which the international community struggled to find a consensus which would be strong enough to get us to where we needed to be in dealing with the environmental challenges and, equally, the development challenges.

The committee could play a number of particular roles and we are keen to hear members' perspectives and how they believe these roles could be played next year. We see it as a potential focal point in dealing with the issues arising from the negotiations with regard to what will happen post-2015 in dealing with climate change. It could promote public debate on the hot topics in these two areas. It could also provide a place for Members of the Oireachtas to receive updates on how international thinking was evolving.

Another potential role is to act as a sounding board. The committee could provide a feedback mechanism for Members of the Oireachtas on the European Union's internal decision-making. Its discussions could help to strengthen the understanding of the Oireachtas of the issues at stake and help it to reach out to those specialist voices in Irish civil society who should be part of the discussions.