Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

As we look forward to the completion of the fifth enlargement of the European Union, I express my satisfaction at the strong support for this Bill from all sides of the House. I sincerely thank all Deputies for their valuable and positive contributions.

Ireland has always been a strong supporter of the enlargement process, of which we were among the first beneficiaries when we joined the European Union in 1973. During the years we have supported each subsequent enlargement, extending the benefits of membership to those European countries that wanted to join and were ready to do so. I hope Bulgaria and Romania will strive in the coming months to satisfy the European Commission that they are ready to take on the responsibilities of membership of the European Union from next January. We look forward to working with them as full partners. Their accession will complete the Union's historic fifth enlargement, one of its greatest achievements. Passage of this legislation and Ireland's ratification of the accession treaty later in the year will play an important part in completing a process that would have been unimaginable less than a generation ago when Europe was still mired in the Cold War. We can all take pride in contributing to a process which has transformed our continent for the better in a much shorter time than we would have dared hope for just a decade and a half ago.

See this speech in context