Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Táim buíoch deis labhartha a bheith agam ar an méid a tharla ag Comhairle na hEorpa an tseachtain seo caite. Chuaigh an Taoiseach go dtí an cruinniú sin chun toradh vótála na hÉireann, i gcoinne chonradh Liospóin, a phlé. Nuair a labhair sé ag an gcruinniú sin, dúirt sé:

For all of us, the will of the people is sovereign. They have spoken at the ballot box, the ultimate democratic forum, and the Government accepts their verdict.

The Taoiseach has talked the talk of democracy but has failed to walk the walk because he has not accepted the Irish people's verdict on Lisbon and has not ensured that his Council counterparts have accepted it. If he had heard the people, his message to the Council would have been very clear. The Lisbon treaty is finished and ratification of it must end. This was the Taoiseach's job last week.

It is a falsity to suggest that to continue this process is to uphold consensus. It is, as the Taoiseach well knows, the very opposite. Despite having been given a very clear mandate from the Irish electorate, he attended his first Council meeting as Taoiseach of this country not as a leader of a democratic people but as an apologist to the European elites. His speech was peppered with reassurances that the Irish people remain committed to their European identity and the Union, which they do. However, uttering these reasonable words, the Taoiseach sought to distract and deceive the Irish people and European commentators from his actual intent, which is to ignore the unambiguous mandate given to him by the people of this State. His meeting with the Council was as dishonest as the Lisbon treaty itself.

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