Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The other countries presumably will go ahead with the ratification process. I do not know whether they all will agree on this. There may be problems in the Czech Republic or wherever. Britain is supposed to do the business today.

If they come back to the Taoiseach later in the year with a proposition that 26 countries have ratified the Lisbon treaty and Ireland has not, political discussion must have taken place in the interim period. I will support this, to get to a point where Ireland's concerns can be met. We do not want a situation where 26 other countries decide to move off in a different direction or at a different speed, which would be the worst of all worlds for our citizens.

This was not a vote against the European project, the European process or the European concept. It was a demonstration of the right of people to put down a clear marker, which has had reverberations all over Europe and beyond. From that point of view, the challenge facing the Government is to see that Ireland's concerns, anxieties and fears are reflected, dealt with and clarified and at the same time that we contribute to the solution of the progress of Europe given that we must meet the challenges from China, India, South Africa, Brazil and Russia, and the challenges of having a fair immigration policy, demographic movement, energy security, food security, economic shifts etc. We want to be part of that. We are feeling the pinch in terms of the economic challenge, impacted upon by external forces to an extent.

There is a big job to be done, principally by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Government. I would like to think that we, through our grouping in the European Parliament, can assist to some extent in that regard and we will do so, and that at the end of this process Ireland's claims, concerns, anxieties and fears are reflected, clarified and dealt with while we contribute to the greater progress of the European Union, given what we must meet on a global scale.

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