ireland
Hearings of the Sub-Committee on Ireland’s Future in the European Union
- 4:22 PM A bit of a Minority Interest liveblog here. But if you fancy commenting on the workings of Irish Democracy you can join in here while follwing the eponymous hearings online. Just go to the following page and (after struggling against the terrible design) click on the stream that suits you.
- 4:23 PM oireachtas.ie
- 4:25 PM Hearings start Tuesday 11 November 2008 at 10.00 a.m.
- 4:53 PM Liveblogging cancelled for me, as the webcast stream froze after a minute and never came back.
- 4:55 PM Back again, probably briefly. Watching the afternoon sitting on 19th November. They have the Finnish Foreign Minister giving evidence. He looks like a young royal. He’s telling us about his Phd in European Politics. We can only imagine the discomfort in the eyes of the Committee members as they search for their quailifications.
- 4:57 PM Finnish Foreign Minister wants us to know that he doesn’t think we’re going to be left behind- that every treaty throws up problems and that leaving the akward member behind has been used as a threat but never happened.
- 4:58 PM He likes Lisbon because (a) it increases democracy, (b) is clearer, (c) makes Europe stonger in the world, (d) thinks that the small states (like Finland or Ireland) benefit from stong EU institutions.
- 5:00 PM Belgians says, small states come up with a good idea. The big states will grab it as part of the institutions.
- 5:01 PM Communications- don’t blame Brussels for everything unpopular. (He calls it a spitting cup. I like that. )
- 5:05 PM Sussessful EU moments he cites: Georgian attack by Russia- they brokered the ceasefire. Financial Crises response
- 5:08 PM He doesn’t think that there is really a chance of the EU going ahead without Ireland.
- 5:09 PM He points out that Lisbon would have to be passed before Ireland could secure a Commissioner for itself.
- 5:16 PM Green Party Senator now talking. I missed her name, but she has an article in today’s Irish Times. She’s asking the poor Finn does he not worry about all the Military bits of Lisbon
- 5:17 PM She said lots more, but work intervenes again.
[...] Crossposted from Liveblog.ie [...]
[...] Liveblog.ie community is liveblogging the sub-committee on EU Affairs meeting on ‘Ireland’s Future Approach to EU Policy [...]