Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As Members are aware, for a treaty to come into effect all states first must ratify it. Our national process and tradition in Ireland was to have a referendum on it. Other national processes exist in which countries wish to indicate where they stand in respect of the treaty and they are entitled to so do. Whether it comes into effect depends on whether all states ratify it and clearly, the decision last Thursday means we are not in a position to ratify. When the Lisbon treaty was agreed at the Heads of State and Government level, we agreed collectively that all states would proceed to ratification and would put the question consistent with their national processes. This process is ongoing, 18 member states have done so and there have been indications that others wish to continue to do so. We must respect this in the same way we expect our referendum to be respected.

What is clear is that we are now in an uncertain situation about our future relationship with Europe, where the European Union wants to go and our place in it. My job is to try to ensure that Ireland remains very much engaged with the Union, that the decision made is respected and that we consult with others as it is a treaty between 27 countries. I want to hear their concerns now that this has occurred in Ireland and to see if there is a way forward. The political implications are not simply for Ireland, but there are wider legal and political implications for the Union as a whole in terms of the direction in which it wants to go.

A treaty was brought forward after seven years of discussion and involved compromises on all sides. We cannot now come to a hasty conclusion at this stage. I have indicated my position on it and we must see where we go from here. We are in uncertain waters. If we were ratifying the treaty, we would be able to say where we were going. The law on the treaties is clear. All parties to the treaty must ratify it for it to come into effect.

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