Ms Kate Feeney:

I like to say that I am a Sligo girl but a Dublin woman. I thank the Chairman and members for inviting us to appear before them this afternoon. I also welcome President Tzitzikostas to Dublin and thank him for bringing the sunshine with him from Greece. I hope he leaves it behind when he goes back home.

As members of the CoR - and I see Deputy Richmond, a former member, is here - we are in a unique position to see the workings and interactions of the EU institutions up close but we also have an opportunity to see how they impact local communities at home and across the EU. This is something that not all local representatives are exposed to.

Because of this, two weeks ago, when the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE, Party conference took place in Dublin, we decided to bring together local councillors from throughout Ireland to discuss how to bring Europe closer to the local community. I moderated the session and one point that was raised repeatedly related to the need for all levels of governance, European, national, regional and local, to work better together. This is a point Mr. Tzitzikostas raised previously during European Committee of the Regions debates and again today with his apt analogy of building a house and ensuring all the parts support one another.

The model of a two-dimensional Europe based simply on the European institutions and national governments has shown its limitations. Citizens who are passionate about Europe, and who like all of us in this room want to see the European project succeed, are rejecting the model we have had to date. Citizens from community groups to small business owners, farmers and, in particular, young people have voiced their desire to be part of Europe, of the decisions that are made and of drafting policy priorities and, importantly, of defining Europe's identity on the world stage. All of this starts by making Europe accessible to people at a local level.

This is all the more relevant when we consider that this month marks six years since the Brexit vote. Brexit rightly continues to occupy much of our time and discourse in Ireland as we try to minimise its impact, but that can make it difficult to take time to stop and find learnings from it. If Brexit has taught us anything, it is the need for citizens to understand what Europe is doing for them. This means bridging the gap between Brussels and communities, moving beyond the bubble, acronyms, lingo and jargon and, if I can be bold, moving beyond rooms such as this one. It is about making Europe available and visible to everyone, in every community on our island, and about giving those communities a sense of ownership of Europe, and the key is accessibility. This point about making Europe more accessible was raised during the Conference on the Future of Europe, and it is about doing so at a local level.

We in the Irish delegation to the European Committee of the Regions are playing our part in doing this. We play a leading role in the work of the European Committee of the Regions by influencing EU policies on citizens' dialogues; the Conference on the Future of Europe; free trade agreements, which Councillor Murphy mentioned; the New European Bauhaus; UK-EU relations; digital education; the inclusion of cities in COP27, small urban areas for a just transition; and, in my own work, building a Europe of equality and protecting LGBTIQ+ rights throughout Europe. Our delegation chose and championed these issues because we know how important they are to people at home. I am proud of the work we do as a team but, unfortunately, the lack of supports and frameworks available to our local councils mean we are not fully participating in the programmes and initiatives of the EU. We are not maximising the benefits of this work for the communities we represent.

Ireland has been a net contributor to the EU since 2013, but even as net contributors, we supported a larger budget for the European Union. We do this because, as An Taoiseach told the European Parliament last week, we have seen the overwhelmingly positive impact membership has delivered for all dimensions of our society, and because our membership has been an historic enabler of sustained progress for Ireland. Again, however, when it comes to supports and partnerships for our local communities, there is much more we can do and get.

This is my key point, which Councillor Murphy also made. Our local councils need to be empowered to work not only vertically but also horizontally. They need to be empowered such that when they are faced with challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and smaller challenges such as managing libraries and parks, they can access wealth, knowledge and resources from other councils in Europe just like our own that are facing similar issues, but to do this we need proper supports, resources and frameworks, which are currently lacking. I ask, therefore, that the committee support our local councils, work with us and help us develop the tools and networks we need in order that our councils and communities can access Europe and feel truly part of the European project.