Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

Some have suggested the Lisbon treaty is dead. The UK Foreign Secretary has said it is up to the Irish to give the last rites to the treaty. Is it still the policy of the Government to ratify it? If it is, when will it tell the people? If it is not, when will it tell the other EU member states that we do not intend to ratify it? They will then not have to waste time going through an unnecessary process.

It has always been at the centre of Irish foreign policy that there should not be a two-speed European Union, but that if it were to happen, Ireland should be in the fast lane. It is clear that is not the view of the people. Is that policy now under reconsideration, or is it still a core policy of the Government?

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