Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy has raised many issues and I will deal with them as best I can. With regard to any reports about what might be likely to happen, these are speculative by their very nature since no meetings have taken place yet. The European Council is meeting on Thursday and it will begin rather than finalise a process of consultation. These are speculative opinions being expressed which are the responsibility of those who make them and the best of luck to them.

The second issue raised by the Deputy is the analysis of the result. We will conduct our own analysis of the situation and take whatever soundings are required to compile a fair analysis of the reasons for the outcome and to take account of the reasons people voted "Yes" or "No". We need to see the full picture.

The Referendum Commission acquitted itself well throughout the campaign. Some issues were raised concerning a press conference and certain questions were asked which did not get an immediate answer. Obviously, the commission was insisting on getting an accurate answer out, providing it was to the best of its ability at that time. In fairness to the Referendum Commission, its objectivity has never been in question. It performed its functions to the best of its ability, in line with the mandate it had. I do not wish to engage in any criticism whatsoever of the Referendum Commission.

As regards speculating on how this process will proceed, I cannot anticipate that other than to say that we want to work constructively and engage in a way that will hopefully help us to resolve the problem if we can. The only way one can get to that point is to assess the outcome of the result, discuss the various options with them and find out from them their view of the situation. That must all come into the equation. That is the issue with negotiations on this or any other treaty, or any political or legal agreement — one negotiates to the point where one finds an accommodation that is acceptable to all. It is not the ideal for any one party or set of parties, it must be something that is agreeable to all. That is the basis upon which one tries to proceed. Obviously there is no point in speculating on any of that at this stage. Let us take this step by step, recognising that there is a complex issue here which remains to be resolved. We know what the overall legal position is in terms of the assent of all parties to the agreement being required for it to come into effect. We know that a discussion must now take place. We have to listen to the views of others and we must set out our views as best we can gauge them in terms of what has occurred in the past week, the outcome, how we would like to proceed to get a process in place and engage. Until all of that happens, it is frankly premature to talk speculatively about where all of this will end up.

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