Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I, like the Deputy, regard the charter as a major selling point, not just in the constitutional treaty process but in the reform treaty process. There is nothing in the charter that should cause a reasonable person concern because, as the Deputy correctly points out, it reaffirms existing rights. The only issues that arose were the British concerns regarding the protocol.

As has been said previously, Ireland was not mentioned, and we did not seek Ireland to be mentioned, in the footnote accompanying the relevant section of the mandate.

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