Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Different prime ministers expressed different views on the European constitution. The Government's position is that we made an agreement last year that we would have a period of reflection, which would come to a conclusion in the summer under the Austrian Presidency. We are abiding by that decision. As part of that process, other countries' governments are entitled to state their views about how they see things going forward. We have had a debate on the issue here and I have attended many conferences that have debated the proposed constitution. However, we must continue to feed into the debate under the Austrian presidency and see how we are in the summer when the Austrian Presidency concludes. One cannot just pick bits out of what was a carefully balanced document, negotiated right throughout the convention period. Some countries have a simplistic view that they will go down through the index and tick off the bits that are convenient to them, while saying that we should amend other parts. I do not agree with such views. The agreement was carefully balanced and one cannot just take out one section and proceed on that basis. It just will not work. People are entitled to articulate views that are unworkable, but we need to be honest now and again. Many of the suggestions which involve cherry picking the constitution will never happen, so making speeches like that are of little use.

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