John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I join other speakers in welcoming Proinsias De Rossa to the House and thanking him for his overview of the Convention, giving all sides of the story even though, in some respects, it may not correspond to his own political views. The overall concept of the Convention on the Future of Europe is, undoubtedly, an excellent and very welcome development. With EU enlargement on the agenda, such a Convention is timely.

The governance and management of the Union are important issues which must be reflective of the membership of the Union, current and future. I have no difficulty in supporting these principles, once the approach is reflective of the membership. The Convention has a very serious task in hand and there are important questions to be asked. To use a European phrase, one must ask if it is taking a bottom-up approach, which means that they are listening to the people, or taking a top-down approach where they are telling us what is good for us.

The recent Nice treaty referendum taught us some valuable lessons. The Convention should listen to some of those lessons, one of which is that understanding of and interest in EU affairs is obviously quite low in Ireland. Eurosceptics can generate considerable support with simple, and sometimes false, slogans, whereas those people who support the European concept must put forward their arguments in an analytical way to get their points across. Ireland and most other countries have also shown tremendous pride in their constitutions – this was also reflected during the Treaty of Nice debate – and expect full democratic process.

Based on the above points, we must send out a clear message to the Convention on the Future of Europe. In my opinion the public perception is that unfortunately the approach of the Convention is top-down. This approach is not the correct one.