Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Second, steps to enhance national sovereignty. This relates to the role of national parliaments as well as the concept of ever-closer union. That needs careful analysis and scrutiny.

Third, making the European Union more fair, preventing non-eurozone countries from being disadvantaged by decisions taken solely by the eurozone. The Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron has said repeatedly that he sits at the European Council and that as he is not a member of the eurozone, he would not like to think that decisions made within that zone will impact adversely on countries which are outside it but which are within the European Union.

Fourth, addressing migration and welfare. They are the four main points Mr. Cameron set out in terms of wanting change. The Prime Minister presented those general principles and they are doing technical work on what that actually means. The Prime Minister has visited quite a number of the leaders and intends to present his proposals in detail after the October meeting. As I stand here talking to the Deputy, we still only have that broad sense of the issues that are of concern to the British Government. We do not have the detail. It is important to see what exactly is put on the table.

As I indicated to the Prime Minister, given that there is a large Irish contingent living in England - 70,000 on the boards of British companies - we appreciate how important it would be that the British electorate - it is its business - would eventually decide on the nature of the question it is being asked and that it would respond by saying it wants Britain to continue to be a forthright and strong member of the European Union. Within that, there are aspects to which we can point from our own experience in dealing with the fiscal stability treaty in the middle of the greatest recession of 60 years.

I signed a letter some years ago with the Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, about improving the way in which the efficiency of the Union operates, including such issues as red tape and administration. Everybody supports these and they are part of what he is concerned with. With regard to any changes that the British might require either for EU legislation or for policy, where they are reasonable and achievable, I do not see why we cannot be supportive of them. I made it clear to him that there will more than likely be issues on which we cannot be supportive and he understands that. If a UK proposal would be unrealistic or damaging to this country's interests, we will say so and be very forthright about it.

I believe the Deputy did the right thing in having a debate on it. I would not like to believe, however, that we would set out all the implications for us here because what the British people actually do is not within our control. However, the additional personnel in the section of the Department of the Taoiseach dealing with Northern Ireland and watching these issues as they unfold do not in themselves comprise a new, additional resource. There is a lot of work going on within the Departments to allow us to best understand what actually is meant here. I include the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Finance. The latter has commissioned the ESRI to do work on the macro-economic links between Ireland and Britain. The focus of that is such that we should be able to promote the reasons Britain should stay in the Union. We will study carefully the indications coming from the British side before the Prime Minister presents his detailed proposals after the October meeting.

See this speech in context