Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Many factors contributed to the defeat of this treaty. However, I wish to speak about the attitude of women voters to it because it is important in the context of how we, in Leinster House, do our business. Leinster House is a uniquely male place. Many other institutions in Ireland have changed but Leinster House has not changed very much. That is not to suggest that men, who comprise the overwhelming majority in Leinster House, are not sympathetic to the considerations of women but it is just that the place has not changed.

Large numbers of women profoundly distrusted this treaty and were concerned about the issues of foreign policy, war, militarism, spending on armaments and related issues. An absurd argument made was that a woman's children or grandchildren would end up being drafted into a European army. Mary Black sings a song entitled "All the lies that you told me" and sometimes it seemed that song was the anthem of the "No" side. A real and palpable fear among young mothers and grandmothers was that their male children and grandchildren would be in a European army. I do not believe any of the parties in this House which supported the treaty paused to reflect on why people accepted what was blatant scaremongering.

In many ways, the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, was at his most clever and devious in the run up to the Iraq war when he managed adroitly in a diplomatic and elitist sense to be on both sides of the picture. Although American aeroplanes were landing in Shannon Airport, somehow or other he was with the hundreds of thousands of people who marched in Dublin. In the post-11 September world, security is important, whether one is a neutral nation or part of a military or regional alliance. However, one cannot confuse security with military adventures or a global war on terror about which people felt profoundly uncomfortable. We have not had that debate in this House and so many of the women who voted "No" said that was a cornerstone in their thinking. The 13% or so of women Members of this House need to reflect on why they did not communicate their detailed views and talk to people about these issues.

The other issue which was profoundly disturbing for both women and men was immigration. The Taoiseach may remember I was asked to speak unexpectedly one morning a week before he took office. I had spent the early morning at the railway station in Castleknock. I told the Taoiseach that I was astonished by the number of people who said to me that they would vote "No" and he sort of brushed it aside because he was going to run 50 Fianna Fáil meetings.

I represent a constituency in which one third of people are immigrants. It is, in large part, very successful. However, Irish people are very concerned about their jobs, paying their mortgages and about their children and families. There is some racism, which is ugly and horrible, and I assume that is to what Deputy Enda Kenny was referring. We must deal with it. However, that is different from saying that people are concerned about the economy, their families, houses and their jobs. We must have a period of reflection, and I hope this country emerges stronger from it because there are great people in this country.

This is not only an Irish problem but a shared European one. Tomorrow, when the leader of the Labour Party talks to the socialists in the European Parliament, we will put the Irish case but we will also say that this is not only our problem but a shared European one in terms of where we go next.

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