Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

If that is to set the standard for elected members of the European Union, including Romania and Bulgaria, it is a sad day.

My second point refers to the Minister of State's comments about allowing the free movement of workers. It is a disgrace that the Minister of State, despite what the Taoiseach has said and the stance taken by Ireland, England and Sweden to allow free movement of people, has not told the Romanians and Bulgarians that on accession they will be granted the same rights that we enjoyed when we joined the EEC. They should enjoy those rights from the first day and there should be no two-tier system. I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach had a go at the other EU countries which have not opened their borders to the last group of accession countries.

I call on the Minister of State to state that there will be no block and that on accession the Romanian and Bulgarian people will enjoy the same rights as the people from the last ten accession countries in Ireland and that we encourage all members of the European Union to be equal. That demand should go out from this House to the rest of the European Union.

The Roma people are the most disadvantaged ethnic group in Europe. We need to put more pressure on the Romanians and Bulgarians to address this disadvantage. The Travellers are our own nomadic and ethnic group but Ireland does not stand up as a model to either Bulgaria or Romania because we still discriminate against Travellers. We should encourage both countries and the European Union to do much more to address the disadvantage this group of people face. They lag behind in the areas of housing, education, employment, infant mortality and so on. A recent World Bank study found that many Roma live in conditions similar to those found in sub-Saharan Africa. In eastern Europe in particular there are Roma camps which would not be out of place in Calcutta or Bangladesh.

There is no easy solution to the plight of the Roma people. No one is under any illusion that this disadvantage can be erased overnight. This is also the case for Travellers in this State, even though we have had a longer time than the Romanian and Bulgarian authorities to deal with the issue. I hope they will not study our record on this issue.

Sinn Féin has a positive view of an independent Ireland in a Europe of equals that is a fully and truly inclusive Union in which all states, regardless of their wealth, population or military strength, have an equal say in planning to work together. Sinn Féin is eager to welcome all applicant states that fulfil the Copenhagen criteria of democracy and respect for human rights. Our vision is of a socially just, accountable and transparent EU that respects and promotes the equal and human rights of all and is run democratically from the bottom to the top, not controlled by large nations, powerful bureaucratic elites and transnational capital, as is the case today. Our aim is a demilitarised and nuclear-free EU with a renewed emphasis on the primacy of a reformed United Nations in international affairs so that this fully inclusive international forum can reach its full potential as a force for international unity, justice and peace.

Molaim an Bille, agus is trua é nach raibh sé os ár gcomhair roimhe seo. Chomh maith leis sin, is trua é nach raibh an tAire sásta tacú leis an méid a bhí le rá agam maidir le cearta taistil a thabhairt d'oibrithe ón Bhulgáir agus ón Rómáin ó thús. Tá súil agam go mbeidh sé in ann an ráiteas sin a dhéanamh go luath amach anseo. Sin an meon atá ag an Rialtas. Tá fáth éigin a bhfuil eagla orthu é sin a dhéanamh ag an bpointe seo. Tá súil agam inniu, amárach, nó lá éigin roimh i bhfad go mbeidh an méid sin á rá acu.

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