Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Increasingly, I find people to be highly sceptical about the Lisbon treaty. In part this is because they have no sense that the Government is seriously engaged in explaining the treaty's terms to them, with the possible exception of one or two Ministers. It is understandable that people who have a deep antipathy towards Europe and the various European treaties should be highly critical. On the whole, many people regard Europe as having been very good for Ireland. They recognise that while it is not perfect, the country has done well from its membership and that, in particular, issues such as employment rights and the rights of women in respect of work, working conditions and pay have advanced significantly through our membership of the European Union.

However, there is an enormous deficit in respect of the Government's engagement in the argument. The point has been reached at which many of its supporters have asked why they should bother to vote if the Government does not care. Consequently the challenge for the Government is to put some effort and thought into explaining what is a complex treaty. It should explain it and should convince its own supporters that it is worthwhile to vote for it. Otherwise, the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach designate, should recall that on a previous occasion when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs, he misread a European treaty and we ended up by having Nice I and Nice II.

I can understand that the Government parties, particularly Fianna Fáil, have been somewhat paralysed by the drama of the political events associated with a change in leadership. However, when will the leading party in the Government, Fianna Fáil — I except one or two Ministers — engage? Unless it does so, people will be sceptical. In their ordinary weekly shopping, people face extraordinary levels of price increases. They face extraordinary conversion rates from sterling to euro. Moreover, perhaps 100,000 people who bought houses at the height of the property market face some degree of negative equity. This morning, someone stopped me at the railway station. This is a matter of which everybody is aware. Their son, a qualified carpenter, lost his job when he was not invited to return to his site after Christmas and has subsequently been unable to find other employment. As he only recently qualified, he faces a gap before he can set himself up in business. In the context of the serious economic difficulties being experienced by families and individuals throughout the country, if Fianna Fáil does not seem to care about explaining the treaty to people and making detailed arguments as to why people should vote for it, why would the electorate be bothered to vote?

With many other Deputies, I spent time last week speaking with groups of farmers from various parts of the country. Without exception, they said they were always broadly in favour of Europe but expressed concerns about the WTO negotiations and the lack of engagement by Ministers in Ireland's interest. Irrespective of the potential benefits of the WTO for the Third World, the Government is required to serve the legitimate interests of Irish farmers and their families. It seems, however, that it is not engaged in that regard. I advise the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach-in-waiting, that he better get the troops out if he wants to win on Lisbon and the Ministers better get out of their cars to meet the people on the streets.

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