Mr. Ciarán Cuffe:

I made the somewhat fatal mistake of not bringing my peann luaidhe with me, but I will try to respond to some of the many questions that were put to me. There were questions about scrutiny, trade, social equality and social rights.

On scrutiny, it is really valuable that we are in the Seanad today. Looking ahead, there is the committee on European scrutiny and that is very important. It is vital that we appear there regularly and also in the Houses. Within most of the political groups within the European Parliament, we tend to sit in sectoral groups and look at economic issues, social issues, environmental issues and, more recently, issues relating to human rights and the digital world. If we were to adopt a theme, it could be how to address the economic or social issues in Europe. Given that we are trying to cover a wide area in a very short period, it might be useful to look at that.

In terms of trade, I echo much of what Mr. Andrews said. Many trade agreements are up in the air, including TTIP, CETA, Mercosur and the Energy Charter Treaty. Many of these date from or their origins lie in the last century. Most international trade treaties take five, ten, 15 or 20 years to progress. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is evidence of this. None of them reflects the science relating to crisis that we are experiencing in terms of environmental changes in the world. There is a need to rethink them all but I do not think that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. For a young child growing up in favelas of Rio de Janeiro, her future depends on trade. Her future depends on her mother and father being able to find jobs. Many of those jobs will depend on trade links between South America and Europe, so we must be careful that we do not completely negate trade.

Finally, the issue of social progress is imbedded in all of our work. Ms Daly and I are members of the Committee on Transport and Tourism, TRAN, and social issues arise all of the time whether it be an airline worker or truck driver trying to find his or her way from central Europe to western Europe and back. So social issues are imbedded in many of the matters with which we deal.