Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Both the President of the Commission and our Commissioner spoke about accepting and respecting the decision of the Irish people last Thursday. There is a precedent. When the Danish people rejected a previous treaty, ratification continued in other states. The collective decision, which has already informed this particular treaty, was that each member state indicated it would proceed with a ratification process. This is what has been taking place over the past couple of years. We cannot question the wish of others to do this or to put their case in terms of what the treaty means for the future direction of the European Union when we expect them to respect our wishes. Respect is a two way street and one has to accept that.

On the Deputy's other question about going to the European Council meeting, while this is the first such meeting I will attend as Taoiseach, I have attended many European Council meetings.

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