Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Mr. de Valera addressed the Houses of Congress in his capacity as President. It will be an interesting April for the Taoiseach. As he is aware, he will begin his address to one congress on 1 April and to another Congress on 30 April. At some point during the Taoiseach's contribution to the joint Houses of Congress, he should be in a position to refer to progress being made on the undocumented Irish problem, that is, the immigration problem to the United States, arising from the bilateral all-party agreement in this House. Hopefully this could become a reality and I wish the Taoiseach well in this regard.

I refer to the increasing complexities and logistical nightmare associated with the Chad mission and the obvious tinderbox that is Kosovo. Would it be appropriate, even for an interim period, for the Taoiseach to call together a group comprising himself and representatives from the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Foreign Affairs and Defence to monitor the situation in respect of the ongoing safety of Irish troops and Defence Forces personnel in both Chad and Kosovo? The Garda is also involved in this matter.

Has the Taoiseach decided yet on a date for the EU reform treaty referendum? As the Taoiseach is aware, a significant change will take place with regard to qualified majority voting as new competencies will be decided by that method. I am concerned that the Joint Committee on European Scrutiny may not be adequately resourced. A river of information is coming towards Members, who are ill-prepared for the avalanche of material coming from that source. In respect of the reform treaty, the Government should see to it that the requisite personnel and staff are in place to deal with that flood of information. One does not wish to see a situation arise whereby questions may be asked that cannot be answered. A great deal of this information can be quite complex for the average Member serving on the joint committee. In the national interest, the Government should ensure that this joint committee is serviced properly in order that Members in attendance are adequately informed on the issues that arise from the Commission, the Parliament and the Council.

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