Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

He should be present as he spoke the truth on this matter at least. I consider the Government's handling of this issue to be an abuse of the bipartisan approach to important European matters always adopted by my party. Fine Gael will support strongly the passage of the European Union reform treaty and has always put the national interest first in respect of referenda on Europe. I recall opportunistic opposition by Fianna Fáil to the Single European Act, which speaks for itself.

This is an important issue for this country, its people and its future. I overheard the Minister for Foreign Affairs making a statement on radio recently to the effect that a debate could have been held had the Opposition asked for it sooner. The Minister is responsible for driving this issue and the Government has determined on and made its arrangement for an opt-out. This evening, Members are making statements in respect of a matter on which the Government has signed off already and the debate is taking place only because the Opposition parties requested it. I regret greatly that the Minister did not see fit to take the initiative to approach the relevant spokespersons from all parties to outline the Government's position and thinking and to keep them informed fully of measures as they arose.

The Government has now created a situation that has serious implications for the fight against crime and terrorism and for Ireland's standing in a European context. This decision was made by the Government behind closed doors without either advance warning or consultation with the Opposition parties, until the latter raised the matter in the House last week. The Government will be seeking strong support to pass the EU reform treaty, which this party will give because we have always supported European proposals. We were centrally involved in the drafting of the original convention proposal. What I would have liked to hear the Minister speak about was not the number of seats in the European Parliament or the matter of Christian heritage, which is important to some people, but the real reasons behind the U-turn on the opt-out in respect of the draft European constitution. Nobody has explained the nature of the unforeseen circumstances which have been mentioned. Why has the Minister not explained the reasons for opting out? Many people think that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has put pressure on members of the Cabinet. The view in the Department seems to be that common law is somewhat superior to civil law, and for this reason we should, in the words of the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, slavishly follow Britain in an opt-out. As a result of this, everyone who comes to this country to campaign on a "No" platform will try to divide those who support the passing of the reform treaty.

The Government has caused utter confusion by saying it wants to opt in and then it wants to opt out. The Minister cannot tell us the circumstances which would justify our opting out, but he stated he would review the issue and retain the right to opt in after three years. The Government has made the wrong decision. It was fundamentally wrong not to stand by its belief that Ireland, a small country with an important part to play in Europe, would have been able to stand on its own in this regard. It is clear the emergency brake system, which was drafted during negotiations that took place under our Presidency under the leadership of the Taoiseach, is sufficient to deal with this issue. Under this system, if a measure is introduced that the Irish Parliament feels is detrimental to our legal system or that we cannot live with, the measure is put into suspension and the matter is passed up to the European Council, which operates on a consensus basis. This is effectively a veto.

The Government should have affirmed its belief that the emergency brake system, which we drafted ourselves, is right for this country, and should not have allowed itself to be tagged onto the tail of a eurosceptic Government by retaining the option of opting in or out on the basis of unforeseen circumstances. It should have had faith in the terms negotiated by Ireland and stated its belief that the emergency brake system would stand to us when the time came. The Minister of State, Deputy Roche, did say we should not follow Britain slavishly in this regard and I, for once, agree with him. It would have been in our national interest to have a strong view of where Ireland stands in a European context, to say that we believe in the safeguard of the emergency brake system, and not to mess around with opting in, opting out or reviewing in three years.

Why is it that none of the members of the Government can explain what these unforeseen circumstances are? The fact is that they have been cowed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, told the British Government that it could have an opt-out if it wished and said, by-the-by, that Ireland might wish to opt out also, and the Government has gone along with this. Because Ireland has effectively declared its euroscepticism, when we get down to negotiating on real issues of national importance such as corporate tax rates, we will not have the same back-up and support from our European colleagues as we received previously.

Why did the Minister not state the real reasons for the opt-out? It may be that he feels he should support the absent members of the Green Party, which has opposed every European treaty introduced since Ireland joined the European Union. It may be because the Government wants some cover in next week's anti-war debate. Perhaps it is related to the recent statement of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform that more and more powers are being transferred to Brussels, as one might hear at a Tory Party conference. In this country, the vast majority of people have supported European integration for the very reason that the pooling, as opposed to the transfer, of decision making is generally beneficial to smaller countries. This has been proven to be the case in a range of areas.

Tomorrow I will go to Lisbon for the European People's Party summit. This grouping includes representatives from all 27 countries. I will reiterate that Fine Gael will strongly support the passing of the reform treaty in a referendum, but that I do not agree with the Government's decision to opt out in the area of justice and home affairs for spurious reasons that nobody has been able to explain. The Government has been doing this for long enough that it knows greater clarity should have been provided. It should have stated: "These are the reasons we are opting out". It has not been able to do this except by referring to a nebulous possibility of unforeseen circumstances. This is because it does not have faith in the terms we negotiated during our own Presidency. The emergency brake system, under which measures will be referred to the European Council if necessary, will stand up to testing in Ireland.

These are fundamental issues. If the Government had consulted with all parties about where it stands, we would not be here giving statements on an issue which has already been decided and which will go before the Heads of Government on Thursday. The Government has made a regrettable mistake which will cause difficulty for the parties who support the treaty, as people will be confused by its opt-in, opt-out stance.

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