Ms Banotti, MEP:

I thank the Senators. I am thrilled to be here and am most grateful for the kind remarks.

Ms Banotti, MEP:

Several of the Senators' questions overlap a little. I was shocked by the standard of debate during the first referendum on the Nice treaty. While my generation – most people present are probably younger than me – has a certain memory of Ireland and of Europe, I realise that anybody under the age of about 40 has a totally different set of memories about the world in which we live. When I was growing up, the biggest charity in Dublin was the Evening Herald boot fund, the purpose of which was to collect money so children could have shoes. If I mention something like this to my daughter she laughs at me. She does not believe me and thinks I am getting old and sentimental. Therefore, we have to argue the case for Europe every ten years.

Ms Banotti, MEP:

It is easy for me to hold my perspective because I have colleagues who remember the Second World War and who remember rooting in dustbins for food while it was taking place. Helmut Kohl has touched on this very well in terms of his passion for the European Union and his desire that it be supported, particularly because of the traumas experienced by his country. His attitude was still prevalent when I joined the European Parliament.

Ms Banotti, MEP:

When I joined there were less than 400 MEPs because three member states joined later. I marvelled at the size of that European Parliament in comparison to our national Parliament. However, I now regard it as having been a dinky little Parliament in which we knew everybody. It is very different today. There are 628 MEPs and there will be even more when the new member states join.