Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Let me answer that. The Lisbon treaty represented a consensus many years in the making, in which we were centrally involved during our Presidency. Great honour was brought to this country from the work we did at that time. When we rejected the Lisbon treaty we went back to our counterparts and explained the reasons for its defeat. Our colleagues said they would seek to accommodate our concerns, but they believed the treaty was fundamental, in terms of the enlargement of the Union for more effective decision making in the future. We brought our concerns back, they have accorded them the status they require and have ensured the bogus arguments are eliminated.

Let us get down to the real debate. That is what I invite. Let us have the debate. People are entitled to different opinions on this issue, but let us have a debate about what it is we are signing up to, not what we never signed up to in the first place.

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