Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I wish to ask a few questions about the conclusions reached at the summit. It was agreed that if the Lisbon treaty is ratified and comes into effect, each member state will have the right to appoint a Commissioner. Has any consideration been given to what will happen with regard to the appointment of the new Commission if the Lisbon treaty is not ratified?

There were agreements on legal guarantees in a number of areas in respect of taxation and security and defence policy. I do not see any great difficulty with these because, as I read it, they were not affected by the Lisbon treaty in any event. There is also a provision for a guarantee that the provisions of the Irish Constitution regarding the right to life, education and family are not in any way affected by the Treaty of Lisbon, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the justice and home affairs provisions of the treaty.

We all understand that the abortion issue was raised during the course of the referendum on the Lisbon treaty. I cannot recall anybody raising issues relating to education during the course of the referendum campaign. In so far as family issues were raised, they certainly were not central. I have been through the research which was done following the referendum, but I cannot see anywhere in it that family or education issues surfaced as matters of concern. Perhaps the Taoiseach could explain where those issues emerged from, the nature of the legal guarantees being sought, and how that will be squared with the charter of fundamental rights.

I also wish to ask the Taoiseach about workers' rights issues, which he raised during the European summit. The text of the conclusions states that high importance will be given to those issues but not legal guarantees, as is the case in the other areas. Can the Taoiseach explain why that is so and what he proposes to do to address it?

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