Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I welcome the signing of the agreement. I hope that we, as an integral part of the EU, can give our imprimatur when the referendum is called. I hope that the naysayers will not get a disproportionate amount of time and accommodation from everybody. There seems to be a notion developing that everybody who says "No" should get more time and have greater credence attributed to them. I hope that will not be the case.

Deputy Timmins referred to the notion of blaming Europe for everything that goes wrong. When negotiating in the Council or in the Commission, we are in charge of our destiny. There is no sense in blaming everybody else. We go in there open handed, with no restrictions. We can negotiate as it suits ourselves, albeit with the agreement of the rest. To opt out from that is to do no justice to ourselves or to anybody else. I am sick and tired of listening to people complaining about the treachery of the fisheries policy and the agricultural policy. That is a matter for ourselves and we can adjust it ourselves. We go into negotiations and we are responsible for them.

As Chairman of the Joint Committee on European Affairs, I and my colleagues will be making a constructive effort in the course of the referendum that will take place and we hope that it will be a vehicle whereby the Minister, his officials and the country benefit from the debate that follows.

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