Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

We both seek a yes vote but perhaps it is due to political expediency that the wrong message is being sent to our European colleagues on behalf of the citizens of the State.

Moving from being at the heart of the European Union to being on the periphery, cherry-picking aspects of new treaties and undermining the future of the Union by commenting darkly on qualified majority voting will not, ultimately, serve Ireland's best interests. We will lose the respect and goodwill of fellow EU states if our actions put the best interests of Europe in jeopardy.

The Government's lukewarm response to the proposed reform treaty sends mixed messages to the business community and international investors who have historically perceived Ireland as a key player at the highest levels in Brussels. To date, Ireland's involvement in the European Union has been a hugely positive experience for the country. Rights enhancing legislation has flowed from Brussels and improved the standard of living of every Irish citizen. The vast majority of Irish people support the European Union, recognising that without it and without enhanced co-operation on a range of issues, this would be a much poorer nation economically, socially, politically and culturally.

The introduction of wide-ranging measures to fight crime in the reform treaty is entirely consistent with the European Union's approach to governance, where it identifies a problem, it proposes a solution, yet the Cabinet seems to be rejecting the solution based on a less than convincing premise. Our vulnerability to organised crime and, in particular, drug smuggling and people trafficking is well known. Almost on a weekly basis Members in this Chamber point out that the towns and villages in their constituencies are flooded with drugs which are coming into Ireland mostly from the continent. Large numbers are being smuggled into Ireland on a weekly basis; some have paid criminal gangs to secure entry, while others are kidnapped, brought here against their will and then forced into prostitution. They are treated in a degrading and inhuman manner within the shores of this State.

It is essential and urgent that we embrace EU measures to combat crime because we are seen as the soft touch of the European Union. The policing of our coastline is woefully inadequate. The Garda Síochána lacks both the technical resources and the manpower to seriously combat organised crime. Closer co-operation and the sharing of expertise and intelligence with our fellow member states are essential if we are to seriously reduce crime. Criminality is an international problem that requires an international solution. To coin a hackneyed cliché, crime knows no boundaries.

In addition to a diminished reputation among our EU partners and a reduced capacity to tackle criminality, there are other consequences to the Government's decision to opt out of the provisions of the reform treaty. We may find ourselves excluded from justice measures we have signed up to such as the Schengen Information System II update, a key European border management database which is crucial in fighting terrorism and crime. It has also been suggested we may face financial penalties. I am not sure whether the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dick Roche, or the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, will be addressing this matter.

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