Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

There are precedents of organising multiple referendums on various issues, such as electoral representation, divorce and abortion. There is no constraint on reverting to the people to allow them to decide on any particular question.

Regarding pigmeat, the issue was handled in the context of the EU through the European Food Safety Authority. This showed the importance of belonging to an international organisation where people on the veterinary, food safety and public health sides work collectively in accordance with best principles, such as the precautionary principle, as it gives the markets confidence. There is a direct link between an EU public health surveillance and food safety network and ultimate market confidence in food products. This was clearly displayed in the pork issue.

Last week, a private storage scheme for pigmeat was exclusively introduced for Ireland. This will allow the storage of some 30,000 tonnes of pigmeat products with an underlying value of €15 million for a period of six months. We managed to achieve a Council conclusion in text format, which will enable the Council to express its support for Ireland's effort to deal with the situation and for its prompt precautionary action and ask the Commission to support farmers and slaughterhouses in Ireland by way of co-financed measures to remove the relevant animals and products from the market. The conclusion has been given politically and the Commission is working with the Government on the details in terms of how the former can add supports over and above what has been offered in terms of the private storage area. This demonstrates the good faith shown by our European partners during the exceptional situation in which we found ourselves.

Last week, the EU's Foreign Ministers held two significant discussions on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC. The first occurred at the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting on Monday and the second occurred over dinner at the European Council meeting on Thursday, 11 December. The key issue was our response to the request of the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, for assistance and support. The original request was for a deployment by the EU or some of its member states of a multinational force for up to four months, pending the arrival of reinforcements requested by the UN Security Council. The matter has been under discussion, including a detailed discussion at the meeting and a briefing by Javier Solana.

There have been some welcome developments on the regional political side of the issue, as leaders are engaging. There is no unanimity on the deployment of a battle group, but we agreed on further engagement with Ban Ki-moon concerning the details of what would be required on the ground and what could be deployed effectively. From a humanitarian perspective, we believe that there should be a positive and meaningful response to the Secretary-General's request, which I articulated at the Foreign Affairs Council.

One can argue that the whole idea of battle groups was to have them in readiness to be able to respond to such situations. Obviously, circumstances are moving quickly. At Thursday's meeting, there was a sense that matters had improved somewhat and that we should keep them under consideration. Discussions are continuing at senior level under Javier Solana's office.

At the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Thursday, our text contributed significantly to an extended discussion on the Middle East and found its way into the ultimate conclusions of the overall text in terms of developing broader support for the Arab peace initiative and a broader regional dimension and encouraging the prioritisation of the Middle East question by the incoming American presidential Administration.

With regard to the economy, we are spending approximately twice the EU average on capital investment. We are ahead of the game in that regard in the context of the stimulus policy. We welcome the initiative on the part of President Barroso in respect of this matter.

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