Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

A position of dependency on hand-outs does not instil confidence in the recipient. I have yet to hear a person on the dole say that, while on the dole, he or she respected the social welfare system. Respect will not be engendered if the language of dependency is used to describe Ireland's relationship with the European Union. We also contributed and were involved in the development of the European project. We were not merely bit-part players.

The centralisation of our Government system does not instil confidence in people living in rural areas. The same can be said for the European project, which starts in Brussels and stops in Dublin. We should proceed beyond this legislation and decentralise our European project. There should be offices in regions around the country, such as Donegal, Waterford and Kerry. People must see what the European Union is about because, at present, they have no tangible evidence of what it does. There are infrastructure benefits, such as regional colleges, of which the Letterkenny Institute of Technology is an example. However, while these are European Union funded projects, citizens see them as the consequences of spending taxpayers' money. In view of this, offices should be established in each county council to enable people explore how much the Union contributes to projects in their areas.

Doubtless, hundreds of thousands of euro have been spent on consultants explaining the democratic deficit and why, at the last referendum, 65% of the electorate did not vote. They did not vote because of their lack of confidence in the European project. It is meaningless to them. In this context the term "subsidiarity", referred to by Senator McDowell, is important. It is concerned with devolving power to the regions and giving them more autonomy. The Leas-Chathaoirleach referred to the BMW region. While it exists in theory, it has little practical significance. If we are to develop along the lines of the Länder system in Germany or the regions in Scandinavian countries, we will have to fully implement proper constitutional arrangements for our regions, be it at county council or regional level.