Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

The United Kingdom will take up the EU presidency on 1 July and will clearly play a major part at the European Council meeting on 16 and 17 June. We await the suggestions it will bring to the table regarding how we can move ahead. Ireland will take its own decision as a sovereign nation with its own Government and this Parliament. We will take our own decision in due course, based on what we believe is best for the country in the future.

It is not for me to interpret the reasons for the rejection of the constitution in France or the Netherlands, though we greatly regret the outcome. I have been following the media reportage of the situation and clearly, a complex conclusion has been arrived at. People voted against the constitution for various reasons. Some had genuine reasons for voting against it because of their personal opinions. Others voted against it because of local domestic issues. The neo-liberal agenda, as perceived by some, was certainly one of the reasons some people voted against it.

In hindsight, it is hard to say whether the EU constitution should have been called a consolidated treaty or otherwise. We are in the process of consolidating treaties. Some 95% of what is written into the constitution has already been ratified. The remainder, 5% of it, is new. In hindsight, we probably needed much more time to communicate with the citizens of Europe and all the member states. That message is loud and clear. There is a serious difficulty in communicating full information on the European initiative and mechanism to all the citizens on a consistent, regular basis. On the other hand, the communication is such that citizens are not seeking information unless it is made available to them.

Europe must grapple with this issue. We must strengthen the "Communicating Europe" initiative and make much more information readily available. From all the research available, it is obvious that the more information is given to the citizens of our countries and Europe together, the more interest they have, the more positive they are and the more committed to embracing change. In hindsight, asking the citizens of Europe to enlarge the union by ten countries just one year ago, and then to bring in a new EU constitution just 12 months later, was perhaps asking a great deal. We now need a period of calm reflection and to see what will be the outcome of the European Council meeting on 16 and 17 June. We can then work together in the interests of the common good of Ireland and Europe together.

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