Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

On the contrary, the Labour Party would be happy to support him if he were offered the position of President of the European Commission. I am unsure of the Taoiseach's position in that regard. Is he putting himself forward for the job or does be believe he will be approached by a broad cross-section of moderate opinion towards the end and brought in as an acceptable compromise? I am not clear from the Taoiseach's reply whether he is a candidate?

What is the position of the Irish Government, in the event of the Taoiseach not being interested, in respect of the retiring President of the European Parliament? I do not wish to make his task in successfully completing the IGC more difficult but does the Taoiseach accept there is a certain amount of apprehension among those who take an interest in European affairs at the notion of Ireland being left for a period without a Commissioner? That issue is one of the fairly straightforward matters raised by people throughout the country. People take pride and comfort from the fact that an Irish Commissioner is President of the European Parliament. There was some surprise regarding the proposals published by the Taoiseach. I repeat I do not raise that issue to make the Taoiseach's task more difficult than it is.

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