John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I welcome Mr. Durkan. In his view, can Ireland or any other EU member state exert an influence on the UK's decision? Going back as far as 1975, despite all media and most parties supporting British membership, the referendum on whether the UK should remain part of the then EEC was only carried by a 2:1 majority. In 1993, John Major's Government almost fell on the issue of the Maastricht treaty. Current polls show that the majority of people in Britain want out of the EU for various reasons.

An interesting development in the debate in recent months has been the references to Norway, Sweden and Switzerland - countries which are outside or on the periphery of the EU and have managed to achieve greater growth than any of the best performing countries of the EU or its economy overall. All three of these countries have direct trade with Europe and their economies are performing exceptionally well. Will Mr. Durkan comment on that?

It is important to note that it is not just the Conservative Party driving this issue. Some members of the British Labour Party are very wishy-washy about the EU and cannot give a guarantee on how they will vote.