Ms Mairead McGuinness:

I will be general rather than answer in detail as too many questions have been raised. I am with Ms Harkin about the use of terms like "elite club". None of us regards ourselves as part of an elite. We are elected by people on the ground. We fight to get elected. It is important to say that we represent part of the institutions so there is sometimes that view.

People are talking about the future of Europe in Ireland. One of the scenarios that is not in the paper is disintegration. People should not underestimate disintegration which can happen by accident or design. Brexit has been a wake-up call and it is making people understand where Europe works as well as charging us with the responsibility to fix those things which are not working. It is an opportunity. People I meet are talking about Europe. My colleagues mentioned visits to schools. I was at a school in Kiltimagh yesterday which had references on the walls to the First and Second World Wars. We are forgetting the history of Europe. Sometimes people say it is boring and that we should forget the past. The day we forget the past is the day we will rue. If we do not remember our roots, which are in peace, we will not have a future. Indeed, the peace process in Northern Ireland was assisted greatly by the European Union. I am always happy to go to a school. The children talk about conflict and war and then we talk about what Europe has done to build peace.

The White Paper is not about picking an option and running with it, it is about opening a debate. That debate happens everywhere. I do not know if it should be structured. Certainly, I am having meetings about it all the time. Others are doing that also. It will not be a case of picking three or four. It will be pieces of each. The first question we have to answer is whether we believe the concept of Europe is worth defending, protecting and fixing. If we do that, we can work towards solutions, taking into account that other countries might have different views. We can work together to find a solution that moves us, hopefully, in a more positive direction.

I was in Letterkenny and Martina Anderson was also there. We had a very important meeting on Monday where we spoke to stakeholders about Brexit. The fishing sector is one about which I am very concerned because there could be war at sea, apart from the trouble we will have on land. The real tragedy and sadness I have around Brexit is that the people of Northern Ireland do not have an assembly. An assembly would be a good way for the political voices to be heard. We face a UK election in which the issue of Brexit and its impact on the island of Ireland is not sufficiently or at all being addressed. I am happy that I can articulate the concerns of stakeholders from Northern Ireland and not just listen to them on a Monday but reflect them with Michel Barnier and my colleagues in the EPP. Elmar Brok sits on the Sherpa committee of the Brexit negotiators. He came to the Border region and he really saw. Seeing is believing. He also travelled into Northern Ireland and met community groups. He reflected very strongly his concern about the great fears in Northern Ireland for Brexit.

While we are here today to worry about the difficulties, people should not underestimate the progress we have made and our capacity and responsibility as politicians to find solutions. Regarding Brexit, we have to put our fingers in our ears until after the UK has its election in the hope that some of what I hear or read on Twitter will be tempered when the negotiations begin.

It will require both sides to go into the room with less emotion than perhaps currently exists.

I suggest that I can address some of the individual concerns separately through email or through another conversation.