Joint Committee on European Union Affairs debate -
Tuesday, 11 Dec 2012

European Issues: Discussion with European Movement Ireland

Chairman

There are two items on the agenda. The first is a discussion with the European Movement Ireland which will present its accountability report for 2011. It will also speak about the European year of the citizen, which is next year, and the Irish Presidency of the European Union. After the presentation and discussion with the European Movement Ireland, we will be joined in private session by the UK EU scrutiny committee.

We will then be joined, in private session, by members of the UK's European scrutiny committee. We will probably need to allow at least an hour for a full and frank discussion with Mr. Cash and his colleagues.

We will now move to our first item and on behalf of the committee, I welcome Ms Noelle O'Connell who is the executive director of the European Movement Ireland, EM Ireland, and her colleague, Mr. Neale Richmond. The witnesses will address the committee on their 2011 accountability report. They will also comment on the forthcoming European Year of Citizens 2013 and on our Presidency, which starts on 1 January 2013.

I remind members of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official, either by name, or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to this committee. If they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. Witnesses are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

Ms Noelle O'Connell

I thank the Deputies and Senators for the invitation to appear once again in front of this committee. In the past 18 months I have had the opportunity of presenting to this committee on a number of occasions and today I would like to build on some of the issues I have previously discussed as well as looking forward towards 2013 in a more general European context. I intend to focus my initial remarks on the latest findings of EM Ireland's 2011 accountability report, copies of which members should have before them, before moving on to discuss the upcoming Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the designation by the EU of 2013 as European Year of Citizens.

As many of you will be aware, EM Ireland is a not-for-profit, voluntary, membership-based organisation founded in 1954. We aim to provide a robust, fair and reasoned voice on European matters in Ireland through increasing awareness and understanding of European issues. We also strive to publicise opportunities presented by the EU and the potential ramification of legislation which is constantly evolving at a European level. We develop this interaction by promoting accountability at an Irish and European political level, educating on EU issues, informing business of EU opportunities and working with non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations and citizens. In keeping with one of our founding aims, we are committed to ensuring increased engagement by the Irish people with the EU.

I must apologise in advance for the heavy use of statistics in my upcoming presentation but our accountability report serves to outline, through measuring in statistical terms, key indicators tracking Ireland's engagement with the EU on a number of different levels. Our 2011 report follows on from the success of the inaugural 2010 accountability report. Our report 2011 is based on monthly analysis of nine key indicators whereby we extended and refined the systems used to identify, track and store the relevant data. Data integrity was of central importance in the compilation of this report and much time was dedicated to ensuring that tracking the information took place using only mathematical systems, thereby decreasing any opportunity for subjectivity. It is crucial to point out at this stage that although the accountability report 2011 endeavours to track Ireland's engagement with the EU throughout the calendar year, that is, from 1 January 2011 to December 2011, the general election that took place in Ireland on 25 February 2011 resulted in a change of Administration and some subsequent structural changes. Therefore, for the purposes of a number of the indicators in this report, tracking only began after the 31st Dáil was in session, that is, after 9 March 2011. This is highlighted where relevant in each chapter.

Essentially, we focused on the following four principle areas: European Council and Councils of the EU; European Parliament level of engagement; pre-legislative input; and Oireachtas engagement. Overall average Irish ministerial attendance at the meetings of the Councils of the European Union stood at 86%, with either a lead Minister or Minister of State attending 61 out of a total of 71 meetings that took place once the 31st Dáil was in session in 2011. This is an increase of 9% from the data recorded from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010 in European Movement Ireland's accountability report 2010, where the overall ministerial attendance rate recorded for the full calendar year was 77%.

In a new departure from our 2010 report and based on suggestions and feedback, we compared Irish attendance to that of our EU counterparts with Ireland coming second best in terms of overall attendance in 2011. The Czech Republic came first with an impressive 96%. We found it particularly interesting to note that when comparing Ireland to other EU countries who are in EU-IMF programmes, Ireland had the highest average ministerial attendance rate with 86%, Greece had an average ministerial attendance rate of 63% and Portugal's rate stood at 55%. Much like his predecessor, former Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, the current Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, attended every one of the seven European Council meetings which took place after 9 March 2011. General affairs, environment and justice and home affairs councils all enjoyed a 100% attendance record by Irish Ministers under the 31st Dáil in 2011. As it stands, eight out of ten Council configurations have an average Irish ministerial attendance record of 80% or higher, compared to four out of ten in 2010.

In respect of European Parliament engagement, overall Irish MEP attendance at plenary sessions of the Parliament decreased by 1% since 2010, which may be attributable to the fact that MEPs were campaigning in the two elections that took place in Ireland in 2011, namely, the general election and the presidential election. As this committee will appreciate, attendance is a static measure recorded on a roll call but is not in itself a dynamic measure of engagement, standing, impact and influence, which are, admittedly, far more difficult to quantify. In Parliament, Irish MEPs asked 683 parliamentary questions in 2011, dropping from just under 1,000 in 2010. Conversely, Irish MEPs made a total of 727 speeches in 2011, which is an increase of 100 from the previous year. There is Irish MEP representation on 14 of the 20 standing committees. The workload of these committees differs greatly from those of Oireachtas committees and we see that five reports were drawn up by an Irish MEP acting as rapporteur. Irish MEPs are represented on 15 out of 41 parliamentary delegations to places such as China, Palestine and the USA. It is important to note that, in addition to sitting on parliamentary committees and delegations, most Irish MEPs are also members of a range of intergroups dealing with specialised interest areas such as disability, the media or trade unions. Our report merely touches upon the workload of an MEP but we used the most scientific barometers at our disposal.

In terms of Oireachtas engagement, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs met a total of 17 times between 9 March 2011 and 31 December 2011 under the 31st Dáil. The attendance record of members of the committee under the 31st Dáil from 9 March 2011 to 31 December 2011 was 71%. This is an increase of over 10% from the data recorded in EM Ireland's accountability report 2010, where the overall attendance figures for both the European affairs committee and the European scrutiny committee were 58% and 55%, respectively. As per the programme for Government, pre-Council briefings took place on just three out of the 11 general affairs meetings that took place between 9 March 2011 and 31 December 2011, which represents 27%. However, it must be noted that for four of the General Affairs Council meetings, the committee was not yet in place.

On the question of pre-legislative input, from the 23 consultations reviewed for this report, the percentage of the total submissions that originated in Ireland ranges from 0% to 5%, with an average of 0.9%. This represents a decrease of 0.7% from the 2010 average of 1.6%, as calculated by similar analysis carried out in the accountability report 2010. To put this in context, the Taxation and Customs Union Directorate-General received a total of 1,726 consultations on its green paper on VAT, with just two coming from Ireland, which is a mere 0.1% of the total. From an Irish perspective, there is a clear opportunity for business sectors, civil society, NGOs and public opinion to have a stronger input into this stage of the European legislative procedure. EM Ireland looks forward to playing a leading role in facilitating this enhanced engagement. This finding is one that we feel we all have a duty to help improve and forms an important part of EM Ireland's activities for 2013.

One of the principal aims of EM Ireland is to facilitate debate and provide information on the Irish-EU relationship. This report does this by analysing the level of transparency and accountability at both a national and European level so that Irish citizens can see how we are being represented by our elected officials. I am happy to report that we have collated most of our data for 2012. As part of our ongoing efforts to incorporate feedback and improve the findings and promote the transparency and accountability objectives of the report, we have begun to look more deeply at the workload of MEPs, including their attendance in committee, their work producing opinions and shadowing reports, as well as their membership of outside bodies. Our 2012 report will also look more closely and in greater depth at the workings of other European bodies such as the Council of Europe, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee and the OECD. We hope to launch our 2012 report in April or May of 2013, details of which we will notify to this committee

As per our Presidency countdown clock on our new website, in less than 20 days, on New Year's Eve, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs will take part in a ceremony in Dublin Castle to mark the beginning of Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. For the first six months of 2013, our small country will be at the centre of decision making in Europe, helping to shape policies and drive forward legislation that will impact on the futures of over 500 million EU citizens. Hosting the Presidency is an important role for any member state. It involves a great deal of responsibility, as well as an increased workload for the Government, as the host nation must undertake a number of functions that are essential for the smooth operation of the European Union as a whole. This will be Ireland's seventh time to hold the Presidency, having last held it in 2004. Ireland is unlikely to hold the Presidency again for another 17 years. The year 2013 also marks the 40th anniversary of Ireland's EU membership, in addition to 2013 being designated as European Year of Citizens. All of the above is taking place against the backdrop of The Gathering as well.

I am confident that many of the policy issues that will dominate the Irish Presidency have been discussed in detail in this forum so I will not focus on them. For European Movement Ireland, we intend to take a very serious role seeking to develop a connection between the ordinary people of Ireland with the Presidency and also European Year of Citizens 2013. The next 12 months, and the first half of 2013 in particular, will be a very important time in our organisation's history and for our members. In addition to our regular programmes and campaigns such as accountability which I have outlined here, Blue Star for primary schools and our work in the wider education sector, we will be ramping up significantly our communications and information dissemination campaigns and programmes. We will continue to report on the discussions of this committee as well as increasing our Just the Facts publications, where we attempt to explain and report on EU developments on specific topics such as CAP, for example, in as clear and jargon-free a manner as possible, which as members will know is not an easy task sometimes.

In advance of the Presidency we have already hosted a series of briefings for our members, the business community, NGOs and civic society groups detailing the challenges and plans that lie ahead for 2013. As part of our outreach programme, we are running a number of pre-Presidency briefings in some of Ireland's large digital companies where the Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, has very kindly given of her time to meet staff and brief them on Ireland's plans for the Presidency and to field their questions. These lunchtime seminars have been highly successful and we intend to continue to roll these out through the course of the Presidency with the support of the Minister of State and her colleagues.

We are also delighted that many of the 26 ambassadors from other EU member states have agreed to take part in a series of regional town hall meetings where they will be able to discuss the European Year of Citizens, the Irish Presidency, how it is being perceived in their own countries and how the policy decisions being made will impact individual member states. Given that the significant majority of the official Presidency events will be taking place in the greater Dublin area, our series of regional town hall meetings are about reclaiming the debate and aim to ensure that Irish people throughout the country have an opportunity to make their voices heard. We hope to work with Members of the Oireachtas as part of this series of regional outreach activities throughout the country.

On 1 February next year, we are partnering with Group III of the European Economic Social Committee to host a high-level conference in Castleknock marking 40 years of Irish membership of the EU, entitled, "The Benefits, Opportunities and Challenges of EU Membership", and a working group meeting will be held in Eurofound in Loughlinstown the following day. On 24 and 25 May over 200 colleagues from the different European Movement councils will attend the EM International Federal Assembly in Dublin Castle. For the next year, we will continue to organise a series of high-level Presidency update review sessions for the community voluntary sector, the general public and our members. We will also be partnering with the Leuven Institute in Belgium in organising a high-level event at the institute which will be a review from Brussels of the Irish Presidency developments. Thanks to the Léargas-facilitated and European Commission-funded Youth in Action programme, we will run our youth media and the Irish Presidency project, which seeks to find 25 young citizen journalists aged 18 to 25, from each corner of Ireland, to cover the Ireland's Presidency. The young citizen journalists chosen to participate in the programme will have access to official Presidency events. Participants will report on these events in any medium they wish, be it print, blog, video, photography as well as the full range of ever expanding social media platforms.

As mentioned previously, 2013 has been declared the European Year of Citizens and in that context, the first task for all 25 participants of our youth media and the Irish Presidency project will be to cover the official launch of the European Year of Citizens 2013 in Dublin City Hall on 10 January. The year will be officially launched by the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, along with the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and the Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore. Supported by the European Commission and the Department of the Taoiseach, this event will be followed by a citizens' dialogue organised by European Movement Ireland. At the citizens' dialogue, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Vivianne Reding, and the Minister of State for European affairs, Deputy Creighton, will engage in a frank and open exchange of opinions with 200 citizen guests on the current economic crisis, the rights of European citizens and the future of the EU.

According to the European Commission proposal, the purpose of the European Year of Citizens 2013 is to facilitate EU citizens exercising their right to move and reside freely within the European Union by ensuring they can easily access information about their rights. It is worth spelling out the specific purposes of the European Year of Citizens, namely: to raise citizens' awareness of their right to reside freely within the European Union and how they can benefit from EU rights and policies; to stimulate their active participation in Union policy-making; and to stimulate debate about the impact and potential of the right to free movement, in particular in terms of strengthening cohesion and people's mutual understanding of one another. European Movement Ireland looks forward to playing an active part in the events of this year. We are keen to engage as many partners as possible in order to further the discussion of Europe and European issues during the Presidency and European Year of Citizens. For our organisation, it will certainly be important to have done our utmost to ensure that the legacy of both next year's Irish Presidency and European Year of Citizens will have succeeded in enduring long past the end of the 2013 calendar year.

I welcome the views of this committee on our accountability campaign and the work of European Movement Ireland overall. My colleagues and I look forward to continuing to work with the committee over the upcoming 13 months at this busy but exciting time in Irish-EU relations.

Chairman

I thank Ms O'Connell and compliment her on the quality of her presentation. I also thank her for the ongoing work of European Movement Ireland, whose work I am familiar with, including the Blue Star programme for primary schools. I wish the movement further success with its programmes.

I note that the next six months will be very intensive and I believe it is very important to involve our citizens in as many ways as possible during our Presidency. We wish EM Ireland well in that regard and look forward to hearing further updates in the coming months. I attended the launch of the aforementioned accountability report several months ago.

I find it a useful document because it helps keep tabs on what is going on where.

The report states the attendance rate of members of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs under the Thirty-First Dáil is 71%. How does this rate compare with other committees of this House? How does it compare with similar parliamentary committees across the European Union? Are there are any plans in the next report to publish the individual attendance rates?

The report also states “27% of all General Affairs Council meetings that took place under the Thirty-First Dáil had pre-Council briefings in front of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs”. This figure represents three out of 11 Council meetings. However, it is important to state why there were no briefings for the other eight Council meetings. For four of these Council meetings, this committee had not been established. For another of those meetings, the former committee Chairman, Deputy Costello, had just been made a Minister of State so he had to cancel the briefing and, on another occasion, he was in New York on business. There are extenuating circumstances for the low figure of these briefings. It was not that the Minister could not attend the committee but the committee itself was not able to receive the Minister. I must point out that since I became Chairman of this committee in January, the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, has attended every single meeting. Sometimes it feels like she is here all the time. Her attendance has been excellent and I would not like the message to go out that our Ministers have been remiss in attending this committee.

Deputy Timmy Dooley

I welcome Ms O'Connell and Mr. Richmond and thank them for their ongoing work. It is worth recognising the tremendous work they do on behalf of civil society. While there are several groupings in this area, the European Movement Ireland is the one we hear from the most and the one that carries out the most valuable work.

The accountability report deals with the quantitative aspect of attendance at Council meetings. Would future reports examine the agendas of these meetings and the input from Irish Ministers? Is there some methodology that could track the volumes of items raised and addressed by Irish Ministers and, subsequently, the outcomes? Using such a methodology would give a better representation of the quality of the work done by Irish Ministers. I am loath to use numeric data on attendance of Council meetings because there may be issues which do not relate to Ireland at a meeting.

I take the report's point about the Oireachtas committee system of EU scrutiny. A former Chairman of this committee, Deputy Durkan, and I have different views about the European affairs committee. I have always believed scrutiny should be pushed back to the sectoral committees. Deputy Durkan has always argued the opposite because sectoral committees do not always see the importance of the European agenda as they should. The report gives one example of this where Irish submissions on the future of EU taxation and customs policy came to 0.1% of the total made. It might be better if such issues were tracked by the relevant sectoral committee and that they accepted their role within the European legislative framework.

The work done by European Movement Ireland is excellent. My points are about improvement rather than criticism.

Senator Fidelma Healy Eames

I welcome Ms O'Connell and Mr. Richmond. I have had a concern for some time about our scrutiny of EU legislation and directives. I do not believe it is adequate, a point I have put on the record before, and it should not be deferred to the sectoral committees. There needs to be far more accountability. The report points out there were just two comments made by Ireland out of a total of 1,723 on the Green Paper on VAT, a mere 0.1%. That says a lot. What about the other Green Papers? We have a large challenge in this regard. Much of our legislation, almost 75%, is secondary coming from Europe. We need a stand-alone and dedicated committee, representing the people, to scrutinise EU legislation and directives. Some have argued this is a role for the Seanad. Such a committee would also ensure the best deal for the people with inputs at the correct point.

The European Movement Ireland has examined the quantitative analysis of Irish ministerial attendance at Council meetings. Has it any measure of a qualitative analysis? For example, such a directive comes from Europe and is dealt with by the Oireachtas committees. Is there any analysis of what the Irish people have said about it and are their views reflected by Oireachtas Members?

Deputy Seán Crowe

As a new member of the committee, I do not know what attendance patterns are like. However, since I became a member I have noted attendance is linked to the meeting's relevance. Similarly, one would expect ministerial attendance at Council meetings would increase because of the economic crisis emanating from Europe. When it comes to the business of MEPs and Ministers in Europe, what is relevant to people at home is what they are actually doing out there rather than attendance. It is not just about attendance or the number of speeches made. It is the content of the speeches that is important. One could be speaking every day on some matters. The point is how relevant are these speeches.

The most striking point about the report is the lack of Irish input at the pre-legislative phase.

We seem to arrive at the debate when it is half over. How can we improve the process and what is the relevance of pan-EU NGOs and interest groups?

The report deals with the attendance rates of Irish MEPs. My colleague in the North, Martina Anderson, MEP, sees herself as an Irish MEP. The report seems to be partitionist in that sense. Does European Movement Ireland take a view on this? Many of the issues arising in the European Parliament are common to Ireland and there is co-operation across the board. Can future reports take this into account?

Can the use of Irish in the European Parliament and Council be measured? Many activists in Ireland fought long and hard to make Irish a working language but it is not yet treated equally. The accountability report would offer a useful vehicle for measuring progress.

Is it too early to draw conclusions about the new way of dealing with EU scrutiny in the Oireachtas? The lack of public debate suggests that we are still a long distance from proper democratic scrutiny. One of the movement's aims is to encourage engagement with European issues but the EU has to be shown to be relevant to people's lives. We are all at fault in this regard but while attendance is a guide to performance, it does not fully reflect levels of involvement.

Chairman

While MEPs from the North are not included in the report on attendance, they are entitled to attend meetings of this committee. From the new year, we will reschedule our meetings to Thursday afternoons in order to facilitate the diaries of our MEPs. We hope to see increased involvement of MEPs from across the island.

Deputy Seán Crowe

On a similar vein, several Senators pointed out they find it difficult to attend meetings because the Seanad meets at the same time. There are extenuating factors in respect of attendance, and MEPs have similarly encountered difficulties in this regard. The figures may say one thing but the issues behind them also need to be reflected.

Deputy Joe O'Reilly

I welcome Ms O'Connell and Mr. Redmond. I will not repeat my colleagues' comments but I wish to ask a question that logically follows on from them. I recently came across the Blue Star programme in a primary school and I am very impressed by it. Along with the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Creighton, and the then Cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council, Councillor Sean McKiernan, I visited East Knockbride national school near Bailieborough when it was being awarded the Blue Star. We met the pupils and learned about the various projects they had pursued. All of them had studied European languages. The awareness throughout the school of European geography, history, language and culture was impressive. They learned the traditional folk costumes and clothes of the various parts of Europe. I am a primary teacher by background, and it was one of the most impressive things I have ever witnessed.

The Blue Star programme is clearly an effective means of developing an awareness of Europe and European identity. I would be happy for any of my three children to take the programme. What is the level of take up and are there plans to develop it further? It has enormous potential for expanding beyond schools to reach the families and communities of the students concerned. What is the movement doing at third level? That is also a critical area.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan

I join my colleagues in welcoming our guests and compliment them on their comprehensive report. It is important that we have a barometer against which to measure our performance and that of our colleagues in the European Parliament. Every so often we need a reminder as to whether we are coming up to the mark.

I take a different view on attendance at meetings. It is very important to attend even the non-statutory meetings, whether with Ministers or MEPs, because decisions are made and policies are formulated at them. Sometimes they are used as opportunities to fly kites which suddenly return to ground as policy. It is important that we represent the people who elected us at these meetings. It is not possible for everyone to attend the various meetings in Brussels.

In a previous Dáil I was a member of four committees. I was able to attend them all because they were not on at the same time. The problem we face now is that even though there are fewer committees in this Dáil than in the last one, their schedules appear to clash. The Order of Business and the quorum at the beginning of business clash with committee meetings. Two or more committee meetings are often scheduled for the same time. We need to avoid clashing as best we can.

Deputy Dooley asked about the appropriateness of particular committees to address issues. I have always taken the view that the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs should specialise in European scrutiny and European affairs by virtue of the fact that its members are attuned to what is happening in Europe. That does not mean members of other committees are not attuned but this committee is more focused. The committee faced a couple of glitches in its previous incarnations. On one occasion a sensitive issue was cleared by another committee which shall remain nameless. If the issue had come before this committee it would not have been approved and the country would have been saved considerable embarrassment. I am not telling tales out of school when I say that a member of the other committee approached me at the time to inquire whether this committee could hold a hearing on the issue. Unfortunately, the pass had been sold by the time we held our hearing.

On another occasion, a European directive which impacted on a sector of the community in Ireland was approved by the Government and a certain Minister refused point blank to appear before this committee. This is not a reflection on Ministers in general but it speaks volumes in itself. This Minister had no difficulty in meeting the appropriate sectoral committee. Everything is for a reason. I was critical of the Minister's decision at the time. I am not giving away any names, ranks or serial numbers.

The fact is the individual concerned at the time also opted for a sectoral committee. Why? My answer is that it was probably believed it might be possible to get the proposal past that committee more readily than the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. I do not know what the reason was, but I know the outcome was unsatisfactory.

I do not agree with my colleague, Deputy Crowe, with regard to remaining silent or not asking questions. Whatever parliament or committee one is appointed to, one should try one's best to attend it at all times, whether one sees it as relevant or not. The relevance is not important. The predominant factor is that one has been appointed, elected or sent there by somebody. One should turn up on the day, raise the flag and attend the particular committee or networking group. These meetings may seem unimportant individually, but collectively they can be very important and can have a significant impact on the way we do our work and the acceptance or otherwise of what is done at European and national level.

Deputy Seán Kyne

I welcome Ms O'Connell and Mr. Richmond and thank them for their report. Have they any figures with regard to the role of MEPs in terms of ongoing scrutiny and keeping the public informed and getting the message to them in their constituencies? They mentioned how the Irish Presidency might be perceived by the ambassadors and about asking ambassadors how it is perceived in their countries. Has this been done with other presidencies? If so, how was it done and what methodology was used? Was it based on results or outcomes?

I welcome the move towards getting ambassadors out to meetings to meet citizens. Has there been any measure of support among the general public for the European Union? Is there concrete information available on whether there has been a reduction in support over the past few years? Is there a greater understanding of the European Union now and is there a greater acceptance of its role? Is there greater support for it and for the European Parliament among the public? We have had MEPs since the 1970s. Have people a better understanding of their role or do they see them as dealing with similar issues to those raised with Deputies and county councillors? It seems to me there is a crossover of roles and we all get the same types of queries, rather then MEPs being considered as just being involved in European scrutiny and legislation.

Chairman

Great work is done through the Blue Star programme. I am aware there is another programme entitled "My Vision for Europe" as my old school, St. Mary's diocesan school in Drogheda, came second in the competition relating to the programme and I was invited to the presentation, where I met one of my old teachers, Mr. Joe Sweeney, who had helped prepare the school's bid. In talking to the students, I was struck by how much the competition had increased their knowledge and awareness, not just of the European Movement in Ireland, but also of the issue of how Europe is governed. In the context of the Irish Presidency, does the European Movement Ireland intend to continue with the My Vision for Europe programme during the Presidency? I understand the movement has issues in the context of resources and commitments, but the programme is very worthwhile. Will that programme be run next year?

Ms Noelle O'Connell

The My Vision for Europe programme is a transition year programme which we run in collaboration with our partners in the European Parliament information office, the Department of the Taoiseach, the European Commission, Community Relations in Schools, CRIS, Northern Ireland, the Michael Sweetman education trust and a number of different bodies. We invite transition year students to upload a video on a number of different themes on EU matters. This year, due to a combination of factors, the decision was taken by all parties involved that given Ireland would hold the EU Presidency next year, it will be European Year of Citizens and given our increased workload and the challenge to our resource capacity with the increased level of Blue Star engagement, the My Vision for Europe programme will be in abeyance next year. However, we hope to reactivate it in 2014.

In the context of the citizen dialogue launch event, on 10 January, we are encouraging anyone who wants to attend to upload a home made YouTube video. We would love to see as many transition year students as possible get involved in this and hope this will, somehow, replicate what the My Vision for Europe programme did. Time is short for this.

Chairman

What is the website?

Ms Noelle O'Connell

If pupils can log on to Europeanmovement.ie/citizens-dialogue, they will find all the information they require and can upload their videos through our YouTube channel there. I will try to respond now to the questions put by the committee members, but can go through this in greater detail if I have time later.

With regard to the Chairman's questions and comments on our accountability report, this is the second year of the report, which is very much a live document. Meetings such as this afford us the opportunity to engage with the members of this committee to get their feedback and input. One of the new developments in our report this year was to compare how Ireland performs with the rest of the member states. This came about as a result of feedback and conversations with people like the members of this committee and MEPs. I hope we have demonstrated clearly that we recognise the limits of the report, in that it is based primarily on quantifying statistically attendance and other information, which does not tell the whole picture. However, we feel it ensures and promotes openness, transparency and accountability, which are an important part of any democracy. The Chairman asked about the league table and attendance at other Oireachtas committees. We did not do that for last year's report, but that is something we could consider, were it not for the lack of resources. From our perspective, the most important committee to report on is the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs and that is the one we attend and send staff to every week.

The Chairman praised the engagement of the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton. She plays a hugely important role and has been very supportive of our organisation. We are involved with her and her officials and her Department and the Department of the Taoiseach on a huge range of programmes and projects. She is engaging in our pre-Presidency conferences and she has been prominent in driving the Blue Star programme. She has also given a number of Presidency briefings to our members and to the broader Irish NGO civil society network. We fully appreciate how engaged and committed she is. I would like to draw the Chairman's attention to page 54 of our report, where we state it must be noted that for four of the General Affairs Council meetings, the committee was not in place and for one meeting the Dáil was still in the summer recess. We endeavour to qualify and highlight the statistical information in so far as we can. Our accountability report is fact based, but this has associated limitations. We are very grateful for the work this committee is doing and its increasing level of engagement and we support the committee's efforts to increase its profile in that regard.

Deputy Dooley asked about the statistics on attendance, agendas and participation and how best to elicit, qualify and quantify the input and work programme of Ministers in this regard. That would be a challenge and if we were to do that our report would certainly not stop at 55 pages. Due to resource capacity, that is something that must be left for another day, but we will try to expand the report and give added value by looking at the outcomes. In respect of tracking work on sectoral committees, this is an area we can consider developing.

However, we believe the set of figures for 2013 that we are currently compiling and analysing is fairly meaty and worthwhile. We are as satisfied as we can be with where we are going with our 2012 report.

Senator Healy Eames raised an important point about tracking, analysing and following through on the various forms of legislation that are drawn up. With respect, our report tries to focus on the triangulation of that information. We find the lack of Irish influence at the pre-legislative input stage, which Deputy Crowe also touched on, very worrying. We feel quite strongly that there is an onus on the Oireachtas, on the various bodies in this sector, including European Movement Ireland as a not-for-profit civil society organisation, on businesses, on trade unions and on citizens to make an input into the various Commission consultations and thereby ensure our voices are heard in that regard. This is not the sole responsibility of organisations like European Movement Ireland - we all have that responsibility. One of the findings we came across when we were publishing this report was that it is not always easy for Irish people to have their voices heard. The various directorates general often use different e-mail addresses for the receipt of submissions, but in some cases, the e-mail address is no longer active. We have written to the European Commission to make a number of suggestions that would simplify the process, which would tie in very well with its stated goals and objectives for 2013, as the European Year of Citizens.

Deputy Seán Crowe

Would it be possible for this committee to help in that regard? If there are difficulties with simple things like e-mails that cannot be tracked, is there anything this committee can do?

Ms Noelle O'Connell

If this committee wants us to give a more detailed breakdown and analysis of the specific chapter in our accountability report that deals with this matter, we will be happy to do so. At that point, the committee might like to discuss whether further action should be taken. We would be more than happy to share suggestions that would facilitate access and make the process more user-friendly, which is a big problem in this area. I hope I have answered Senator Healy Eames's questions in this respect.

Deputy Crowe touched on a number of interesting points. We have worked closely with the MEPs. On the basis of the input from the MEPs, we intend to expand the chapter of the report dealing with the European Parliament in next year's report. Attendance levels reflect the use of differing electoral systems. We work at length to explain the role of MEPs. I could not go through it in too much detail today because of the time constraints I faced. There is an onus on all civil society groups to work to enhance and promote the pre-legislative input.

With respect to Northern Ireland, we do not seek to be partitionist in any way. We work closely with the Northern Ireland MEPs. They are classified from a UK perspective. We work closely with European Movement Northern Ireland. We have very good relations with European Movement Northern Ireland, which is one of the partners for the youth media and the Irish Presidency project. I suppose there is an all-island element in that regard.

We will seek to track and analyse the use of the Irish language where information on it is available. It is an interesting point. I have to be honest and admit that such information is not always available. We conduct our research on the basis of the information that is available in the public domain. The material we are presenting to the committee is based on public records. We will consider taking the suggestion on board.

Deputy O'Reilly asked about the Blue Star programme. Some 34 schools throughout the country participated in the programme last year, which was the pilot year. European Movement Ireland is the national implementation body for the programme again this year, with support from the Minister of State and the Department of the Taoiseach. I am delighted to report that 92 schools are taking part in it, which is a fantastic increase. We are very excited about it. As part of the revised Blue Star programme for this year, we are asking primary school pupils to make an input into Ireland's Presidency of the EU and take a view on it. There is also a section dealing with citizenship in the context of the European Year of Citizens. Schools from every corner of Ireland are taking part in the programme this year. As Deputy O'Reilly said, the schools in question will take part in a number of projects to coincide with Europe Week in May. Their Blue Star certificates are presented after they have completed their annual programmes. We are delighted to report that work on this fantastic initiative, which involves primary schoolchildren, parents and wider communities, is well under way. We are delighted to be closely involved in supporting it.

The Deputy also asked about our activities in the third level sector. Since European Movement Ireland was founded in 1954, we have felt strongly about education and have worked in the second and third level sectors. We are managing and administering the College of Europe scholarship application process on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills this year. The deadline for interested students is 15 January next. We are also working closely with the Commission, the Parliament, the Minister of State and the Department of the Taoiseach on the eujobs.ie initiative. This involves going to careers services in third level institutions - institutes of technology and universities - throughout the country to make Irish students aware of the internship or career opportunities that are available. It is important to note that there has been a decline in the level of Irish applications to the EU.

Deputy Joe O'Reilly

That is strange in the present context.

Ms Noelle O'Connell

Absolutely. I am sure the committee is aware of the worryingly high levels of unemployment and emigration among Irish graduates. We believe it is extremely important for Irish graduates to consider the EU as-----

Chairman

The numbers for Britain are also down. Is there a reason for that? Why are Ireland and Britain now under-represented?

Ms Noelle O'Connell

The language issue is certainly a challenging one. Many people went into non-EU-related areas during the boom times. We strongly believe there needs to be an increased focus on, appreciation of and awareness of languages. There is a slight level of apathy. There is also a lack of information on and awareness of the opportunities that exist. That is something we are trying to change. My colleague, Mr. Richmond, has carried out an overview of every EU-related third level programme of study in the country. We will publish that review, which is far more extensive than the report we are discussing today, with the support of the European Commission representation here in Dublin. It will be distributed to every second level school, every career guidance counsellor and every careers service in every third level institution in the country. We outline the various internships that are available in the various EU institutions in our green book publication. We are working to lessen the information deficit in the third level sector.

Deputy Durkan spoke about meetings that clash with meetings of this committee. I can empathise with him as he faces such challenges. I should add that European Movement Ireland is very supportive of the work of this committee. We look forward to continuing to work with the committee to do everything possible to publicise and promote what it does and increase the level of engagement of Irish people. In advance of the referendum on the fiscal stability treaty, various business groups and organisations with different viewpoints were allowed to make presentations at this forum. We were afforded similar opportunities. I commend the committee on the information booklet and various reports it produced at that time.

We would welcome more developments in this regard, which are very positive.

I thank Deputy Kyne for his feedback and questions. I feel I should ask members to send us their suggestions and comments by e-mail so that we could incorporate them. While we have been fortunate in terms of the feedback and engagement we have received from MEPs, our information is based on the information available in the public domain. Owing to the feedback from and our consultations with the MEPs, we intend to focus on more than the speeches and questions raised and to broaden what we do. This will be one of the recommendations in our report next year.

The Deputy asked about the ambassadors and our series of town hall regional briefings on the Presidency and European Year of the Citizen 2013. We were approached by a number of ambassadors who were seeking ways of engaging with different groups throughout the country. We were fortunate to work with the European Commission representation in organising seven regional economic conferences on the European economic situation, at which we had a number of local speakers. We also visited the institutes of technology and third level institutions throughout the country, which were extremely well attended. This provided people with an opportunity to question officials and economists about the economic developments of the day and allowed us all gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the situation in which we find ourselves. We propose to use that template next year in the context of our review of citizenship engagement, developments in the Irish Presidency and to afford opportunities to the ambassadors to bring their perspectives to how the Irish Presidency is progressing and what they believe are the developments from the European year of citizens. We propose to hold open debate and discussion to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to have their voices heard next year. The town hall briefings will play an important part in this regard.

On the question about sentiment surveys - I do not wish to bamboozle members with statistics - the Eurobarometer polls are the flagship in terms of sentiment surveys. In 2007, Irish sentiment, at 72%, was favourably disposed towards the EU. This declined in 2011 to approximately 54%. European Movement Ireland proposes to work with a number of different organisations on a pre-Presidency EU sentiment survey among the Irish people and to do a post-Presidency sentiment survey, the findings of which we hope to publish. We want to capitalise on the unique opportunity which Ireland's Presidency of the European Council affords us. We have found through our work to date that the desire among Irish people to remain firmly within the eurozone, which as per recent polls is between 75% and 80%, remains strong. People are favourably disposed towards the EU, which is a positive and welcome development.

Chairman: On behalf of the committee, I thank Ms O'Connell and Mr. Richmond for attending today's meeting and for their presentations and answers to our questions. We wish you all the best in your future work and look forward to meeting you again in the near future.

The joint committee went into private session at 3.15 p.m. and adjourned at 4.05 p.m. until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 18 December 2012.