Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

When can we expect publication of the twenty-eighth amendment of the Constitution (reform treaty) Bill, which provides for the ratification process of the latest European Union treaty? Will the Taoiseach give us a definitive title for that treaty? The Government is calling it the reform treaty while the media calls it the Lisbon treaty. There is already a Lisbon strategy and a Lisbon Agenda, and now we have a Lisbon treaty. There is a considerable amount of confusion about the issue. I suggest the appropriate title should be the Lisbon reform treaty. It was developed as a reform treaty and signed in Lisbon, so effectively that is the correct title. Perhaps that title could be agreed in the context of the proposed legislation, in consultation with the National Forum on Europe and the Committee on European Affairs. There could be an agreed title for the legislation because it is causing confusion in the debate on the treaty.

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