EU Programmes
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

I know of the Senator's commitment to the European Union and her desire to broaden the reach to the greatest extent possible, not in a lectural way, but an embracing way, to try to inform and educate. Of course, the best place to involve oneself in education generally is in an education setting. While Departments of state generally are rigorous about being associated with certain programmes, I cannot disagree with anything Senator Lynch has said, to be frank.
I encourage her to use her office as an outreach to schools in so far as she can. I do a little of that as well because I share some of her interests, although perhaps not to the same level she has been so successful in. I see Senator Lynch on social media. She is a very hard worker on the ground. Maybe we can use our respective political offices to engage and inform schools. I know that Senator Lynch and others regularly speak in school settings. Sometimes, Departments take time to get to where they need to be or should be. As politicians, maybe we should do some of that work ourselves in reaching out through our various constituency funding streams. For example, there is the capacity to get material printed and circulated to schools in our areas. Maybe that is something we need to push a little bit ourselves. However, I do take Senator Lynch's point.
I know the hesitancy and reticence at departmental level not to be seen to support any particular programme are for all the good reasons, and there are other programmes that will come along that may not have the same broader acceptance or whatever. However, there is a lack of information there and we should be filling the void because if we do not, it will be filled by various social media channels by those who seek to oppose or dismantle the effectiveness of the European Union generally.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11