John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The constitutional treaty, or new EU constitution as it has become known, is extremely important. It is historic. On this side of the House we have complimented the Government for its handling of the treaty and have wished it well in the negotiations. It seems a breakthrough has been made. However, we have not had the required debate on the matter in the House. The Taoiseach told us there are 20 outstanding issues. We are not clear what they are, though we can guess what some of them are. For that reason it is wrong that certain parties on this side of the House are limited in what they can say, and in the number of questions we can ask. We oppose the proposal.

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