EU Affairs Committee Meeting

19th March, 2009

Attended a meeting of this committee today. Very interesting as it covered off a lot of material. In the private session we reviewed reports on the European economic recovery plan, a recent visit to Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina and a meeting with our Northern Ireland counterparts.

Eel management plans were also a topic for discussion. This has turned into the kind of issue where Irish decisions are been blamed on Brussells. This now causing huge angst and worry in some of our communities. Our committee is playing a role in moving this forward.

The public discussion focused on a green paper on European energy supply. I could not stay for that session due to another commitment. I was encouraged by the continued participation of our MEPs in these meetings. Gay Mitchell, Eoin Ryan and Marian Harkin attended and contributed.