Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I warmly welcome Mr. Ó Neachtáin. I will pose a more political question. The number of Irish MEPs is to be reduced from 15 to 13. It is even more important in those circumstances that we are able to punch above our weight. We are currently fortunate in that one of our MEPs is President of the European Parliament. The group in which our MEPs operate is one of the smaller groups but is part of what one might call a coalition majority and, as we know domestically, smaller groups can exercise just as much influence as larger groups.

Various people in this and other countries will be putting forward Eurosceptic views. They will be opposed to the EU constitution; they probably opposed every previous EU treaty. Every country has battles to fight inside the European Union, but considering those who are prepared to fight battles from within, Mr. Ó Neachtáin, MEP, might reflect on whether there would be any advantage to Ireland in having more Eurosceptics elected North and South, where they would find themselves and whether it is really easy for people like that who are not committed to the European project to exercise worthwhile influence on behalf of Ireland.