Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

On behalf of the Fine Gael group, I welcome Ms Mary Banotti to the House. In particular, I welcome a distinguished former Minister for Justice, Mrs. Nora Owen, and other members of Ms Banotti's family to the Visitors Gallery. I will not make a lengthy statement because many Senators wish to ask questions. It has been a privilege for the Fine Gael Party to have been represented in the European Parliament for the last 19 years by such an energetic champion of so many social issues. Her departure from the European Parliament after next year's European elections will be a great loss to the people of Dublin.

I would like to ask Ms Banotti a question that I have wanted to put to a Member of the European Parliament since the publication of the Convention on the Future of Europe's proposals for an EU constitution. The Seanad has 60 Members and the other House has 166 Members, but there are 420 MEPs at present, a figure that will rise to over 600 after the accession states join the European Union. What are the challenges for MEPs who represent the regions of Europe in such a huge parliamentary structure? Based on her knowledge of matters in Brussels, can Ms Banotti tell the House what is the view of ordinary MEPs in respect of the consensus arrived at in the Convention on the Future of Europe? Does she feel that sufficient powers will reside at the European Parliament if this constitutional framework and institutional structure is put in place? I refer in particular to the fact that the Parliament will have the sole right, for the first time, to accept or reject a person nominated by the Council to be the President of the Commission. I think that and other powers are welcome, but can Ms Banotti give Senators her opinion about the standing of the report of the convention among her European Parliament colleagues?