Ms Noelle O'Connell:

I thank Deputies Haughey and Ó Murchú for their questions. I will first answer Deputy Haughey's question on what lessons we learned from our own perspective. It is fair to say that, throughout the citizen dialogue in the future of Europe process which we completed on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs, best practice for us was ensuring that the outcomes were a citizen-led, inclusive, accessible, transparent and impartial format. Most important was that follow-up and that the issues were engaged with, and that people did not just turn up at 6 p.m. on a Thursday evening, participate really actively for two hours and that was the end of the matter. We were very clear that their views were part of the overall report and structure that fed into the Government's submission in Sibiu. We were able to concretely demonstrate that at the national event, inviting all the participants in the regional seminars to take part in the event in Kilmainham. That element of trust and confidence that people had that the conference and their participation will yield positive change and lead to something happening was really important and it was crucial for us to ensure that was imparted throughout the process.

We think the citizen dialogues worked in that they were grassroots driven and reflected public policy. We did not judge. Rather, we were there to listen. If people had specific questions and answers, they were able to have their say, and the audience was very enthusiastic and constructive. It was important to have well-informed facilitators so that at every table, each with about ten people where we ensured gender and demographic balance and mix, the conversation was able to flow without influencing any outcomes.

The importance of the supporting buy-in from stakeholders was a big lesson for us. We saw it at each of the dialogues. If Members of the Oireachtas, county councillors or Members of the European Parliament came, it added value in terms of the practical, tangible engagement for the citizens. It also enabled those parliamentarians to explain the work that they were doing. That was important.

Another lesson that we will take away was about the disparity in knowledge, if I can put it that way, regarding the role of the EU and what was a local competence, what was a national competence and what was a European competence. That certainly was a challenge in some of the locations. The table facilitators, overall rapporteur and moderators were quite supportive and constructive in bringing the conversation back to the issues at hand and explaining the differences in competencies. That can probably act as a reminder of the importance of educating, informing and having an informed conversation on European issues and matters among the wider public in Ireland. We cannot just speak about it in abstract terms. We wanted to ensure that we were reflecting people's views, rather than judging them. That is particularly timely as we, as a country, approach the symbolic milestone of the 50th anniversary of our accession to the European Economic Community - notwithstanding that we are going to be losing a classmate that joined at the same time.

There are forces of populism in our increasingly geopolitically multipolar world. Speaking to Professor Laffan's point, Ireland has a role to play. We are at the heart of Europe. There are going to be challenges on that next year and into the future. We have to be on the offensive. We must engage constructively in terms of how we see our place, our role, and how we engage the people in this country on that debate. That is why it is so important that the ongoing conversation takes place but also that ongoing ownership of the conversation takes place and people feel their views are listened to, heard, valued and understood.

I will speak to what Dr. Coutts and Professor Laffan said. As committee members might be aware, European Movement Ireland has hosted approximately 16 webinars since the pandemic began. We have engaged with the European Commission and the European Parliament. We did an event with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, on the German Presidency last week. We engaged with the European Ombudsman. We did a Brussels connection event with the Minister of State with responsibility for EU affairs, Deputy Thomas Byrne, who spoke to Irish people newly arriving to Brussels as interns in the EU institutions. We have had close to 10,000 online views and engagements with more than 1,500 people logging in. Instead of having 80 people in the offices of the permanent representation of Ireland to the European Union, we had 200 taking part in an online forum. There are pros and cons, but our obvious preference would be to get back to a hybrid version that maximises the advantages of the digital world. That is a lesson we can take away from the citizen dialogues. We also need face-to-face engagement because that is really where the connection and creativity comes in.