Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I am pleased that the Taoiseach has allowed this debate to take place. It should have taken place yesterday, given the crisis in which we find ourselves.

I believe last Friday was an extremely black day for Europe, but a particularly black day for Ireland. While I acknowledge and respect the decision of the people, I cannot but express my disappointment at that decision. It was taken for a great variety of reasons, many of which unfortunately have nothing to do with the European Union or with Ireland's place in the Union. The reality is that we are now in a grave political situation. Without ratification of the Lisbon treaty, Europe faces what can only be described as stagnation and paralysis. That is simply disastrous. We are facing huge global economic competition. In 20 years, the population of the EU is likely to represent about 6 to 7% of the world's population, and we have taken a decision that will undoubtedly impact on Ireland's and Europe's competitiveness on the world stage.

Energy security is one example of this, where we have said "No" to the opportunity to participate in a combined EU effort to give ourselves energy security in the future and to negotiate as part of a very strong and powerful economic bloc. We have retreated and have decided that as a tiny island nation, we can do it ourselves. I am sorry, but we cannot do so. We will not be able to provide the same opportunities to tackle this issue on the world stage in the years to come. That is frightening, especially given that we have seen the sharpest rise in the price of oil in history in the past couple of weeks, with predictions of it hitting $200 per barrel. Our response is to bury our heads in the sand. This is a disastrous position for us to be in.

We need to look at how we arrived at this stage. I did not engage in a blame game on the outcome of the Lisbon treaty, even when the writing was on the wall. However, we must acknowledge a few things. All of us on the "Yes" side must accept a certain portion of the blame, but the Opposition cannot and should not be expected to carry a referendum of this nature. The Government must show leadership and must be expected to deliver. Unfortunately, we have seen an abject failure by the Government to lead from the front. There was very little leadership from Ministers. The campaign got off the ground far too late, as though we could have a crash course on EU institutions and how we should vote to democratise them and improve them. That is not how things work. There was a job to do in laying the foundations and in giving people the time to understand the positive arguments. Instead, there was a vacuum into which the "No" campaigners jumped, with their distortions, untruths, myths and propaganda. The Government must accept responsibility for allowing that to happen.

There was also a great degree of arrogance. The Taoiseach and the Commissioner in Brussels said that they did not read the treaty. It is preposterous to expect the Irish people to trust politicians and especially their Ministers and leaders who tell them to trust us, yet also admit to not reading the treaty. Coupled with an absolute lack of knowledge and understanding of the EU institutions, as evidenced by the Tánaiste's behaviour, this was absolutely disastrous for the campaign. I am not making this up. I heard it on many doorsteps, shopping centres and church gates. People could not vest their trust in senior Ministers and the Taoiseach. That makes last Friday a really sad day for the people of Ireland and it contributed to the disastrous outcome.

It is crucial that we learn lessons from another issue raised today. I was at the count at the RDS on Friday morning and I looked at the tallies in my constituency. I was pleased that it was carried there, but looking at the divide from area to area, I have no doubt that there is an issue with social exclusion and with the socio-economic breakdown of the people who voted for and against the treaty. When we are in difficult economic times, it should be an instinctive reaction of the Irish people that we look to Europe for hope, inspiration, opportunity and security. This has not happened because we have allowed a mindset to develop, particularly in working class areas, that believes when we face difficult economic times there is a major threat from foreign workers in this country. It is a reaction to immigration, and there has been nothing in our society in the past six or seven years to prepare our society for immigration, to enable it to adapt and ensure we have a successful immigration policy. We do not have such a policy and this is an abject failure on the Government's part. This resonated throughout the country during the referendum and absolutely played a part in last Friday's result. I have no doubt about this from knocking on doors and from all the campaigning I did. We need to face up to that now and make people realise that our economic growth and the development of this country would not have happened without the able-bodied men and women who came here from all over Europe and elsewhere, contributing to our growth and our wealth and doing jobs many Irish people would not do. We need to instil that into the minds of people. That is what leadership is about and I am appealing to the Government to show some.

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