Clare Byrne

Hello, Bobby.

You're very welcome.

You've written this guide, The European Union in 12 Objects.

And what you're trying to do is demystify the European Union.

Why 12 Objects, firstly?

But do you feel that, you know, perhaps people feel that, that it is boring?

Or did you come from this more of a place that you feel the notion of the European Union perhaps is under threat or the value that people see it brings to their lives is something that they're questioning at times?

People get frustrated, don't they?

And recent examples include the conflict in the Middle East when America went into Iran.

It took a while for the EU to react and respond to that and to tell us what they thought about it.

And then going back to the conflict in Gaza, it was a similar situation where...

where we had Spain going out on a limb and Ireland going out on a limb to a certain extent without it felt the backing of the EU.

Well, you've taken me into why you've used the mirror here, because the mirror reflects who we are and who the European Union is.

And our identity is retained as Ireland.

But we also see that reflection of ourselves in the European Union.

So it is complex in that regard.

Absolutely.

We retain our autonomy, in other words.

People worry about that, though, don't they?

Further cooperation.