Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Tairgim: "Go léifear an Bille an Dara hUair anois."

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

It is an honour for me to introduce this Bill. Its purpose is to provide for the holding of a referendum on 2 October 2009, which would allow the people to vote on the Lisbon treaty.

The people voted last June not to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, by 53.4% to 46.6%. The turn out was 53%. The Government respects the decision of the people, as expressed in that referendum. Everything we have done since last June has been motivated by a desire to understand the reasons behind the referendum result and to find ways of accommodating the concerns that arose last year. Democracy is about providing leadership. It is what we are elected to do. In respecting the will of the people, the Government has also had regard to the desire of other member states, our European partners, to see the Lisbon treaty enter into force. As members of the Union, we could not just walk away from the treaty as some would have us do. That is not the way the Union works. It depends on agreement between the member states and thrives on an unremitting search for consensus, no matter how difficult the situation may be.

In the past 12 months, the Government has worked hard to find a way forward that would give us what we wanted and could be accepted by all 27 member states. The all-party Oireachtas sub-committee delivered a comprehensive report on Ireland's future in the European Union on 27 November. The Government also began a process of consultation with the other member states, especially the Presidency, and with the Union's institutions, aimed at identifying a solution that would deal with Ireland's concerns and also enable the Lisbon treaty to come into effect. Our research found that the main reason for voting "No" or abstaining in last year's referendum was a lack of knowledge of the treaty. "Yes" and "No" voters were united in their criticism of what they viewed as a dearth of clear, accessible information on the treaty's merits.

After intensive contacts and negotiations, the European Council in December 2008 defined a path to allow the treaty to enter into force by the end of 2009. Our EU partners stated that this would allow time to address the concerns of the Irish people. The Council agreed that, provided the treaty enters into force, a decision will be taken to the effect that the Commission shall continue to include one national per member state. This represents a clear and positive response to a key concern that arose last year. This was a considerable win for Ireland, as some member states favoured a smaller Commission. However, they were willing to accommodate Ireland on this point because they accepted that it had been a real issue during our referendum campaign last year.

The European Council also agreed that legal guarantees would be given on three key points highlighted by the Taoiseach as being of significance to Irish voters. These were that nothing in the treaty of Lisbon makes any change of any kind to the extent or operation of the Union's competences regarding taxation, the treaty does not prejudice the security and defence policies of member states, including Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality, and the provisions of the Constitution in respect of the right to life, education and the family are not in any way affected by the treaty. In addition, it was agreed that the high importance attached by the Union to social progress, the protection of workers' rights and public services would be confirmed.

The legally binding guarantees that Ireland negotiated are in the form of a decision of the Heads of State and Government. The Council further agreed that the contents of this decision will be incorporated in a protocol to be attached to the EU treaties after the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty. This will occur at the time of the next EU accession treaty. The guarantees make clear beyond doubt that the protections in the Constitution on the right to life, education and the family are not in any way affected by the Lisbon treaty, Ireland retains control of our own tax rates and Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality is unaffected.

The Council also adopted a substantive solemn declaration on workers' rights and social policy. The solemn declaration is designed to deal with the confusion that exists about the impact of the Lisbon treaty on workers' rights. Let me be clear, in that the treaty represents a real advance for workers' rights thanks to its new horizontal social clause, which was originally inserted at Ireland's behest, and because it gives legal effect to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. We should remember that much of the development of Irish labour law has come about on the back of our EU membership. The Lisbon treaty represents a genuine further advance in this area.

The decision of the Heads of State and Government on the legal guarantees constitutes an international agreement. The European Council has made clear that the guarantees are legally binding and that they will take effect on the date of entry into force of the treaty. If we want to have legally binding agreements on the right to life, the protection of the family, taxation and our traditional policy of military neutrality, and if we want to retain our Commissioner, we should move to ratify the treaty. Without the Lisbon treaty, we will have no automatic right to a Commissioner and no legal guarantees.

If a second referendum is successful, both the treaty and the decision will be registered with the United Nations under Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations. Article 102 provides that all international agreements to which UN member states are party should be registered with the UN Secretariat after their entry into force.

The Heads of State and Government agreed that the legal guarantees will be set out in a protocol to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union at the time of-----

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