Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy outlined, the procedure entails dealing with the legal services division in both the Commission and the Council, but primarily the latter. It involves the Presidency checking with other member states regarding the proposed contents of these guarantees and obtaining from them their views on giving support to the guarantees. That process is ongoing and it must harden up, as it were. We might then see that the drafting proposals or the conversations now taking place will result in a text that will have broad, indeed unanimous, support. That is what is required by the December Council conclusions. We can then interact with Opposition parties as to our position. It is a work in progress.

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