Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge Deputy Gilmore's and the Labour Party's support for the reform treaty. As I said, the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, and I will discuss these issues with the party leaders. Obviously, we want to develop a strategy which will have the treaty passed. To do that, we need the large number of people who support the Government and the other parties to support the treaty.

On President Sarkozy's proposal for a committee of the wise, all members of the European Council have agreed to leave behind the issue of institutional debate. The French President's proposal is for a group to look at Europe in the long term, that is, beyond 2010. The idea is to generate reflection in the coming years, not to suggest institutional change. He does not see this as being in any way related to treaty negotiations and the committee is unlikely to have done much work before we have to deal with these issues.

Some of the big issues facing Europe include how Europe will evolve and develop over the next ten or 20 years, what will happen to the new neighbourhood policy that was instigated during the Irish Presidency in 2004, what will ultimately happen on the issue of Turkey, which is a big difficulty for President Sarkozy and others, and how the trading blocs of the world will operate on the other side of WTO talks, if and when an agreement is concluded. While a number of issues need to be looked at, they are seen very much in a long-term perspective. What we should do in this period of preparation is focus on the many positive aspects of the reform treaty and ensure that the focus is on the reform treaty only. That is the key issue. It is what we are asking people to support and it is what is important to Europe. It is about giving truthful information to the Irish people. To reply to the Deputy's first question, all the parties in government support the reform treaty and, I hope, not alone that but actively work for its passage.

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