 Yn gyllid y Ysgrifennid, mae'n byw'r cyllid i'r llaw ar y Llyfrgellwyr. Yn gyllid y Roedd yng Nghymru, mae yw'r ysgolwch sy'n gwybod y ffordd o'r ffawr gael a'u cyntaf. Mae'n ddweud credu y Unig i'r Unedol? Mae'n ddweud yna ddweud eich sefydlu. rydych chi i gael gwaholeg gyda'i ddigonwyr cyd-dweithio gyda'i bod yn chi'n ddweud gyda'r document fyddai'r dweud yn eu ddau. Roedd ydych chi'n gweld ychydig gyd-dych chi'n gallu wnaeth cyfnodolion, ac mae eu collawnau'n ffordd i'n gallu ei fawr. Dweud gwnaeth am y cynnig ydw i'w cyyllweddau i gilydd a dddwn pobfu a'r prosiect ffyrdd ydyn nhw teimlo fwylltrwyr ei wneud oes, gyda'i gweithio'r unigol agri fascinatedodog i dŷn yn ni Dxunagol y Ffredd i Gwtthredog yn ymddir i cael eu hunain ond y byddai llei'r effyg o'r enthysgwyr ymwneud ymwneud ar y Ffredd i'r Unig Ilywredin cyst-ygfeyniad ar y sydd wedi'i gyfnod ar gyfer hynny, llyn ni'n gwneud y cantanydd am y ffredd i'r yshaf. Fy enw i ardal yair meddwlol i'r un ar gyfer gwirioneddau nôr i'r pwyllethol mwy tairafu. ymddag a'r bwysig ar gyfer Marien Le Pen, a'r bwysig ar y newydd ymddangos eich chef. Rwy'n gwybod a'r bwysig ymddangos a'r bwysig a'r bwysig ar gyfer y bwysig a'r Unedig Europea. Yn cefnod, mae'n sylgrifennu ar gael paddy Smith a'r ddangos, I'm alarmed at the idea that we should park the idea of Ever closer union. Ever closer union has been the raison d'etru of the European project from the very beginning. It's in all the treaties. It's striking that it was aimed at by the British as a way of dealing with what they saw as the problem. But I am not convinced that parking this idea is the solution to the problem, rather something you mentioned yourself in your presentation, that we should focus on increasing our cooperation among the remaining 27 member states in pursuit of the original objective and ambition of the European Union. Well, I suppose I'm trying to enter in the spirit of real apolitique about this particular matter, no matter standing the fact that I might agree with your sentiment at the end that we need to work closely together. Of course we do. But the reality is that if you go and advocate this policy in the French elections, in the German elections, in the Bulgarian elections, in the Dutch elections, we'll see how you get on. And we have to recognise the reality there that there is a group of people, a significant segment of the electorate in all of these countries who actually don't agree with you or I. And therefore we have to address what are their concerns and we have to address them well and communicate them better. We have to have a strategy. I know that Tony Brown, I see him here tonight, who wrote the book about how we actually won and lost various referendum over the years, what we did right and what we did wrong. I think we should give those particular ideas to others in the context of referendum as well of course, but also in national elections and understand that these issues are not being addressed in those countries. And until such time as we have a strategy that is able to continue, our leaders in particular in the member states and these countries and others, are able to advocate in a more coherent and cogent and stronger way the values of the European Union and the values of why we're together and why we need to be more together. That's not happening to the extent that it would at this stage. And therefore in 2017 I'm saying that we should pause and reflect and park for the moment. Frank Wall, a member of the Institute. Commissioner, do you think that the rapidity of the deepening of the European Union since the Maastricht Treaty coupled together with the rapidity of the enlargement of the European Union has contributed to the growth of nationalism as it's currently manifested in a very anti-European way? And perhaps, would you agree that perhaps we should have with the benefit of hindsight, we should have hastened much more slowly in creating the European Union that we have today? I think that it has been very good for the European Union, the fact that we have 28 member states. I think that the problem has arisen in so far as that we didn't bed down some of the criteria which allowed member states to enter the European Union sufficiently well enough with our policies in a more coherent and cogent way. But I think I would certainly wouldn't think the policy decision was wrong. It's just that the implementation of it could have been better. And I think that this is why this commission has said, let's try and deepen the policy implementation on the existing 27 in the future before we go down the road of having more members who want to join the European Union. So, again, we're at a crossroads, or we're probably not at a crossroads, but we're at a pragmatic point in politics in the European Union where we have to say, let's do better with bringing the people and the new member states up to a reasonable standard of living after social and economic conditions than they have at the moment perhaps. Let's bed down the issues of deepening our political systems in some of those countries as well to ensure that they are in the traditional sense what we would expect here in any normal democracy. And once these issues are resolved, then we can go forward. But we have to certainly, I think, engage with every citizen in Europe better than we have been doing to show the values and the benefits of why they are actually a participant in this very important project. Alan, please. Alan Duke is a member of the Institute. Two points on the way, one for the debate on Ireland. I think it's worth recalling and bringing it into public debate that one of the reasons that we joined the common market in 1973 was to get out from under the effects of a very unbalanced relationship with our nearest neighbour. I remember we had Anglo-Irish Free Trade Area agreements, I think, in 1948 and 1963. They were very, very unbalanced, very much in favour of the UK. Irish agriculture in particular was a very poor client trying to get a foot into the British deficiency payments scheme, not always successfully. And I remember one of the clauses in the 1963 agreement required us to use our best endeavours to export 638,000 head of live cattle a year to the UK. Not 640,000 or 700,000 was 638. We joined the EEC to get on more level terms with that neighbour. Now clearly Anglo-Irish relations today are very different from what they were in 1973. But who believes that if we were to find ourselves again outside the EU in that kind of relationship with the UK that it would be as benign as it has become. And I say that with no, I'm not making any pussy than done against anybody. I'm a quarter English, but I would not like to live in that situation again if we could avoid it. I think that's the point we need to make for some of the more fanciful leavers here. The second point is about the debate on closer union or whatever it might be. I really think that the Commission should exert itself more to get more sensible solutions to some of the major problems that we have today. I was encouraged to see Commissioner Moscovici apparently taking a slightly more accommodating view to Greece. For as long as we keep foosturing around with the Greek issue, we are going to feed this kind of anti-European sentiment not only in Greece but in other countries. We've been trolling around with that problem since 2008 for nine years and we have done everything in Greece the long, hard, painful and unsuccessful way. It's time to get real about that and show that the Commission at least can give a lead in a more sensible solution, however disagreeable it may be to Berlin. On the last point first, the strong supporters of Greece have been the European Commission. We have done everything we possibly can to try and convince the IMF that they need to back off and stop standing in the way of helping Greece even more because you're quite right in what you're saying that if the Greek situation is continued to fester, then it has an impact on everybody ultimately. I think that hopefully there will be a growing recognition of that in the next few weeks when it's actually going to crystallise itself again. I think the Greeks have done an enormous amount of work considering their level of administration that they have where they've taken out one and a half percent of GDP from their economy in terms of retrenchment and expenditure cuts and reforms. They've done it more than what was expected by anybody. I think at the time when these proposals were made and I think they have to be acknowledged for all of that work to expect them to do another one and a half percent. It's going to be a huge challenge for them and it might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. So the IMF need to become more on board with the view that you've expressed which is the view of the European Commission. On the diversification from the United Kingdom I'm glad that you're... I know that you were rounded at that time, Mr Chukes, in terms of the issues that you were dealing with. The time is a very important organisation you were working for. But in order to ensure that we have the least possible difficulty for the island of Ireland, vis-à-vis the UK and the European Union in trade, the government here has to put themselves in the mindset of what is best for Ireland, the UK, but also for the 26. And if you look at the figures for trade, there are many countries in the European Union that have a very substantial trade surplus with the United Kingdom. And it's in the interest of the European Union, I would say, to be looking very calmly and very minimally on a free trade agreement that would say, duty-free, tariff-free for all our goods and services. That would be a hell of an achievement from the point of view of Ireland and the island of Ireland, vis-à-vis our trade with the UK and between Nart and South of Ireland. But again, I would say that if Prime Minister May was able to soften a report a little bit in the customs union, it would even put a little bit of a cherry on it. But we have to, I suppose, aim, as we've been saying today to the Irish government, to aim for a duty-free, tariff-free arrangement and be as near as possible to what is the situation at the moment that we have. And I think that that's well understood. I have three people that I want to pass first, then Una and then this gentleman in the corner, please. Philomonee, Irish Farmers Journal. Just following on from the last point and Alan explained very well what the situation was like prior to Ireland joining the EU, I suppose, and the other point is Irish farming has benefited immensely from the common agriculture policy over the decades, so those things are in absolute given. Yet the reality is suppose almost half a century on from joining, the UK remains our main market for agriculture projects, particularly beef and cheese. Now, you identify, and I think correctly, from a wider economy perspective, the benefit of being part of the club of 450 million as opposed to the 60 million, and that's even more pertinent given just the comments that were heard previously there. But will the EU or do you visualize that the EU will find a way to support Irish farming over and above what it does already to reflect the fact of the problems of the displacement that could be caused, that is likely to be caused in the event of a hard Brexit? Thanks, William. Una, could we have your question next? Una Oduir, former commission official and member of the Institute. Commissioner, I've been hearing regularly, particularly in the media these days, that a little bit on the lines of what Frank has been saying, that the EU now is so wide that we don't even understand each other. I mean, saying such things as, well, what does Estonia know about our problems in Ireland with our border, our free travel area, our close relations with the UK? And by the way, what do we know about Estonia, for example, and their problems? How would you counter that sort of argument? Thank you, Chairman. Brian Keegan is my name from Chartered Accountants Ireland, and I also write for the Sunday Business Post. Commissioner, very taken by your comments about bolstering the image of the European Union, how important that is. But having said that, we've had Commissioner Muscovici, your colleague, here in the last few weeks, suggesting that we surrender some of our tax sovereignty by way of the CCTB project. We've had Commissioner Vestegar, perhaps suggesting that Ireland should be more proactive in collecting what could be regarded as European tax-dialabilities rather than Irish tax-dialabilities. I'm just wondering, in that kind of context, is there an argument that the Commission might be meeting us better halfway as people like ourselves are trying to promote a positive image of Europe in this country? Well, first of all, Mr Keegan, I would say that Commissioner Muscovici is not trying to take over the competence, which is not his competence in relation to taxation matters. He knows the law. He's just trying to ensure that we have common ground rules in terms of calculating our tax. I think everybody will welcome that, so that we won't have distortions in competition. I'm sure you would appreciate that. Also, Mrs Vestegar is implementing the rules of the European Union. If you have 0.005% tax liability in a company, maybe you might be able to tell me more I'm not an accountant, but if it's a rather ingenious way of using the tax system for to develop a case on state-aid rules and confer a distinct advantage on a small number of particular companies that wasn't available or known to any other company, or companies. This is about implementing state-aid rules in a way that actually ensures that we have a level playing pitch for everybody and treat everybody fairly. That's what the commission's responsibility is to do to treat people fairly. Now, it might appear because the company happens to be in Ireland that it's been depicted perhaps as unfair to select somebody from our country and with a huge figure like $13 billion. But I noticed in our visit to the Eruptus Committee there wasn't a hell of a lot of fight back when she said that most of this money could be Irish taxpayers' money. That was her opinion. Maybe in time that would be proven to be right or wrong but we know that in a few years' time. People went very quiet when the notion of $8 or $9 billion was going to be available. Including perhaps the business force might go quite as well. There's a lot of money. I can't tell you how to get to know the people of Estonia or anybody else. We are in this together for various reasons in a club of where we have derived enormous benefits and we can only go and what we know best in Ireland. When I go around to the European Union Member States which I'm sure you will, we see the enrichment that we have with our people that can move freely with the benefits in terms of education, financial recognition, the benefits of employment, workers' rights, environment, what it has done for the environment as a former Minister of Environment is enormous. Many Member States including their own would not have done otherwise. I would think that there are huge positivities that we can see where people are part of the same group of people sharing the continent of Europe and it's up to ourselves whatever interests we are to get to know those interests. People are moving freely like never before and it's wonderful to see it continue in the way it has been. I think we have we cannot put all our eggs in the one basket. If we have a problem now in the UK we have to diversify and as you know on all the trade missions we are we are trying to do that in Ireland and the European Union and we help people and companies to try and do that. There is going to be a transitional period in the Irish agri food sector and the issues now that are before us are rising from this decision of the British people and it's a pity that we didn't get too far in any consultation before this happened or the commitment that the referendum was given is landed on us now so we have to deal with the follow-up from the truth, no fault of our own and agri businesses have suffered a loss of 600 million euro in terms of export losses arising from sterling and other factors since the decision is made and nothing has happened yet in terms of changing the rules. Ireland will be right to put forward a special case in disrespect I don't think we should be talking about special status but we're talking about a good case to reflect the fact that we have a geographical area which is close to our nearest neighbour but we also have an integrated trading relationship with the United Kingdom which has to be reflected as well in the course of the Good Friday Agreement so we have circumstances and issues that nobody else has but we have to put the case on the basis that it's a credible European case not just a credible Irish case and which resonates with the 26 other member states and if that means a bit of extra help along the way I'm sure our negotiators will be fighting for that. How can the EU put together an immigration policy that takes on, I think what is the raise on debt in a way of Marine Le Pen and many others the Dutch and so on and sell us to the part of the population that has been swung to that side If there's one more question I'll take it. Is there anyone I can't see from here? Thank you. We've heard some very country views in the recent past from the Taoiseach and Prime Minister May on hand that we're not going to countenance going back to anything that we're going to border we're going to free movement of people and goods that we've had for so long and Michel Bernier has expressed a view I believe last week in Brussels that this is one of his top concerns and yet on the other hand some of the hard people in Europe think this is not going to be possible it's going to be hard border so to speak perhaps you might give us a brief overview of all that and it's not possible to predict but you might give us a flavour. Thank you. If there's no more questions this is then going going gone. Well Michael the European Commission has put forward seven proposals to deal with the immigration issues since I became commissioner and it was amazing that I think it was in July 2014 when President Junker is part of his 10 priorities put in one of them about course having a common EU immigration policy people wanted to know how he was putting that as one of the 10 priorities so he was quite it was rather a good move and a fair recognition that he was in June particularly in the Mediterranean countries arising from displacement of people due to war and other factors of course in Africa so it's the member states have to make these decisions they're not even able to make a decision about relocating or resettling of people in each member state from Italy and Greece and we're expecting the Greeks and the Italians to carry all of the burden for the rest of us we're either in the trouble or not in terms of sharing some of the burden Ireland has been exemplary even though we're not obliged to do anything Ireland has been exemplary in taking a small number of people a couple of few hundred people showing people that we're caring country that we care about this problem Southern Italy not so long ago and it was briefed on 455,000 people in Catania in Sicily in Southern Italy and you know that's in one location so this is not sustainable and this is only going to get worse if we don't tackle the African issue wars might stop eventually Syria and Libya and Iraq and places like that but the burgeoning population of people in Africa is going to create more possible irregular migration and a fight for survival to the best address in the world at this stage the European Union so I would think that this is a great challenge and I don't detect in many of our member states a benign attitude towards actually improving their policy out implementation but we have to keep at it unless people are prepared to shoulder their fear of responsibility in a common way in the European Union this won't be solved and there's only a trickle coming at the moment now from Syria across to Greece but still there's a huge number of people in camps everywhere in appalling conditions Paul a lot depends on whether Mrs May is going to relax her position a bit on the customs to decide whether we're going to have a hard border or a not so hard border of course we can we are making proposals and the Irish government I know from today's meeting I had with the government that they are making proposals of course in line with what the teacher has said and quite rightly to put forward his view about not going back to the borders of the past so where you put the line and the border, the next European border is important but also where you actually how you actually implement a border based on whether you're going to have a comprehensive free trade agreement ultimately between the UK and the European Union which of course will include Ireland all of these outcomes will determine whether we're going to have a reasonable outcome on the type of border arrangements we all hope that we can continue as closely as possible to what we have now and that would be a great result for the island of Ireland and there is various technologies we don't have to have a border in the physical sense in Caryganaran near Nuri or anywhere like that we used in the past but we have to have a facility where it's a European Union border now as well as an Irish border with Northern Ireland a Republican Ireland border with Northern Ireland where it's a European Union border with the total country so it's quite complicated in the same issues apply in the common travel area it's the first time we had one leg in each camp but unfortunately we're not in the same camp anymore and we have to reflect that and we have to think of a imaginative way as we can solve this problem and they cannot walk away from the international sovereign agreement and legal agreement that they have with the Republic of Ireland as guarantors of Northern Ireland and the Good Friday agreement on all of the behalf I want to thank you very much for firstly a very forthright clear and I would say visionary speech and then secondly for the way in which you've handled a whole variety of very interesting questions so on all of the behalf I thank you very much