There has been a call for the introduction of a "Europe day" by Connacht-Ulster MEP Jim Higgins.
"I strongly believe that there is merit in all of the 27 member states [of the EU] introducing a Europe day - a European holiday on an agreed date every year where the citizens of Europe can celebrate their collective European identity and European citizenship and where de Gaulle's dream of a united Europe would reach above the economic, political and social union, which seems to be the limited vision of so many at the present time," he said.
Speaking on The EU march from Rome, 50 years on, last Saturday at the Humbert School in Ballina, Co Mayo, he said: "Personally I would love to see the people of Europe buying more into the European project, understanding what Europe is about, fully appreciating that by merging sovereignty they are not trading their national identity for an EU superstate."
He continued: "I would love to see the dawning of the day when, as European, we would celebrate being European with half the fervour and pride with which citizens of the US celebrate their 4th of July Independence day, while at the same time appreciating the significance of our right to celebrate, as we are doing today, 1798, or 1916, or France's right to celebrate Bastille day."
Paul Gillespie, managing editor at The Irish Times, began by quoting EU founding father Jean Monnet that "nothing is possible without men. Nothing is lasting without institutions." He spoke of the "crisis of legitimacy" now facing the EU, and "the need for confidence and for a confident leadership to reconnect with popular democratic feeling."
He said the case for "integration was still very strong in various fields" some of which he listed as globalisation, economic interdependence, climate change, energy regulation."
He noted that the new EU treaty contained 90 per cent of the constitution rejected by the voters of France and the Netherlands, and observed that "the big division in European popular opinion is between those who are nationalist and European and those who are only nationalist."
Ed Kelly, head of the Irish Studies programme at the university of Szeged in Hungary, called for the establishment of an institute for international affairs in Dublin "with a branch in Belfast" which would be a centre for reflection and analyses of international affairs.
"To some extent this is provided at present by the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin. Perhaps it would be possible for this to develop into a full-scale institute of international affairs like the Council for Foreign Policy in New York or Chatham House in London. Most countries, including countries as small as Ireland, have such an institution and I personally think Ireland badly needs one," he said.
He felt this was particularly so as Ireland "does not, as far as I know, have a single embassy in central Asia, the Caucasus, or the Caspian Sea area".
Introducing the speakers, Seán Hannick, chairman of the Council for the West stayed local: "We in the Council for the West are firmly of the mind that the Taoiseach's group [which is looking at Shannon, following the announcement of the transfer from there to Belfast of Aer Lingus's Heathrow flights] should be asked to look at the problems caused by infrastructural deficit all along the Atlantic corridor and the west coast of Kerry to Donegal. More than that, the group should ensure the Government implements a balanced and effective regional policy," he said.
Speaking at the school yesterday Longford-Westmeath Fianna Fáil TD Mary O'Rourke spoke of "a revolution in education which was releasing young people from the tyranny of the Leaving Certificate".
She said PLC courses and Institutes of Technology meant young people were now no longer dependant on the Leaving Certificate when moving on to higher honours in education. Speaking in a debate on Social Change in Ireland 1987 - 2007, she described this as "the greatest revolution in education" over that period.