Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps the Minister will get those. My other question refers to the idea of sovereignty. I do not believe what we are doing here is unconstitutional because I canvassed twice for the Lisbon treaty and it was clear that it gave us the opportunity to opt in or stay out if we wanted to. I think one of the reasons people voted for the Lisbon treaty was that we had that opt-out. If we are going to change that, we have to have a good reason. The Minister is proposing we change that, which means in areas where we have sole decision-making power we will pool that decision making. That does mean we are ceding sovereignty. It is not unconstitutional. It is constitutional, but we are now ceding sovereignty by pooling our decision-making because that, in the first place, is what the EU treaties are about overall. It is important to establish that fact and that we do not mix up the two things. What is the Minister's view on that?