I welcome the fact that the joint Oireachtas committee is to take on the role of scrutinising all issues pertaining to Europe. I encountered many councillors on the campaign trail for the recent Seanad election who expressed the view that directives on habitats, the quality of water, meat and so on were all made in Europe without any input from us. I had to agree that there was something not quite right in that. All of these matters should be teased out before they go to the Council of Ministers. This would allow the views of the public to be taken into account by their public representatives in our national Parliament. That is the way forward. Unfortunately people were mixing up the two issues – what the Nice treaty is about and the future of Europe. The second matter is what we are addressing today in putting new structures in place to connect with the public.