Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I have been dealing with the EU institutions for a long time. I agree with Professor O'Brennan regarding the experience of attending European Councils in the 1990s compared to the 2010s. French was used much more in the 1990s. Other countries, aside from the French and Belgians, used French as well. Now, English has become the vernacular for all negotiations and all detailed discussions of all parties, which is interesting. The language issue is also related to people living in Brussels. It is about how they get on as opposed to simply how they work. That inhibits some people from deciding to do that.

I disagree on the secondment issue. There is scope for development. We have greatly expanded our own foreign affairs teams across the world. For a lot of the bright people whom we have talked about, that is another option. It is an attractive option to make a career in our foreign service. Professor O'Brennan complimented Irish people working in the European Commission and the parliament and so on. However, our own foreign affairs team working in Brussels has been incredible. For many, it is a more fulfilling career because people feel they are fighting the national cause. This relates to my second question. We would like to hire our own, but what importance is there to having a strong cohort of Irish people who take an oath to the Union, as commissioners do, and who are supposed to be servants of the Union rather than servants of any nation? We can all answer that question but I would be interested to hear the professor's perspective. What benefit does he see from having people within the institutions of the Union?