Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Will the Taoiseach inform the House of the progress of the work on finalising the declarations? I understand that the greater part of the work is completed and will be considered at the European summit in June at which they may or may not be authorised.

When the Taoiseach spoke to the other Heads of Government at the European Council meeting, was a briefing given on the true and up-to-date position on those declarations being prepared by the Czech Government? Assuming they are in the process of being finalised and will be accepted in June, does the Taoiseach expect the second referendum on the Lisbon treaty to be held in the autumn. In that regard, has the Government finalised its strategy for dealing with those matters of concern for people such as tax and ethical issues, sovereignty, the method for transposing directives into Irish law and the impact on different sectors? Has a strategy been agreed for dealing with those matters sequentially so that we do not have the confusion, allegations or indeed lies that accompanied those issues on the last occasion and the people are fully and properly informed on all of these matters?

Given the appreciation among Irish people of the importance of the strength of the European Central Bank in terms of financial support for Ireland and other EU member states, they will want to be assured that while the architecture coming from the Lisbon treaty is important for a population of 500 million, it is equally important that the Government has a clear strategy on all the issues which gave rise to concern the last time, and how it intends to deal with them. Perhaps the Taoiseach might comment on that.

See this speech in context