19 Sep 2013, 16:25
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs this afternoon engaged with Minister of State with responsibility for EU Affairs Paschal Donohoe TD on accelerating job creation strategies to combat unemployment Europe-wide.
19 September 2013
On what was his first appearance before the Committee, the recently appointed Minister outlined to the Committee the priorities for his tenure. It also allowed Committee Members to question him in advance of the upcoming meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC), to be held in Brussels at the end of this month.
Following the meeting, Chairman of the Committee Dominic Hannigan TD said: “We thank Minister Donohoe for a thorough overview of his priorities in his new role. Minister Donohoe explained that EU cohesion policy was top of the agenda at the upcoming meeting of the General Affairs Council. With one billion euro in cohesion funding earmarked for Ireland from 2014 to 2020, Minister Donohoe explained that such funding would continue to play a critical role in developing infrastructure and upskilling citizens living in disadvantaged regions. He agreed with Committee Members that such funding needed to be urgently deployed to address long term and youth unemployment that are blighting many Member States.
“A former Vice-Chairman of this Committee, Members expressed warm congratulations and good wishes to Minister Donohoe on his new role. We take on board the Minister’s desire to connect Europe with the wider public in a meaningful way by limiting his use of institutional jargon and concentrating on the impact of EU policy on the ground. The Committee was also told of the Minister’s intention to engage on a regular basis with European media to ensure that the challenges faced by the Irish public are fully understood across Member States. With the European Parliament now at the heart of decision-making as never before, Minister Donohoe said that he planned to attend upcoming plenary sessions to ensure Ireland’s interests were strongly represented in Strasbourg.”
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Committee Membership
Deputies: Eric Byrne, Seán Crowe, Timmy Dooley, Bernard J. Durkan, John Halligan, Dominic Hannigan (Chair), Seán Kyne, Dara Murphy and Joe O’Reilly
Senators: Colm Burke, John Kelly, Terry Leyden, Catherine Noone and Kathryn Reilly