Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

Sea. Gabhaim buíochas leis an tAire Stáit as a cuid ama a roinnt liom.

The Government is convinced that the Irish people's interests are best met by remaining closely connected to the decision-making processes of the European Union. We believe that this requires that we join with the other member states in ratifying the Lisbon treaty. We strongly believe there are vital national as well as EU interests at stake.

In facing up to the lessons of the last campaign, we also recognise the need to build a greater awareness of the nature and extent of the EU's extremely positive role in the world, especially in this time of economic recession. We must, therefore, do our utmost to dispel the myths and half truths which some on the "No" campaign were engaged in on issues such as defence, foreign policy, workers' rights, social issues, tax issues and competition policy.

The global nature of the current economic downturn underlines in a stark way the necessity of the founding logic of the European Union. The Union has a long record of overcoming difficulties and building consensus that respects diversity while exploiting its shared interests and joint solutions.

If recent months have taught us anything, it is that the EU does not exist in a vacuum. It is a part of an increasingly interlinked and interdependent world. In this time of crisis, financial and economic upheaval worldwide, it is vital that we pull together both as a nation and as part of the EU to restore confidence and bring about recovery.

In order to chart the way forward, the EU as an entity must be fit for purpose. The central objective of the Lisbon treaty is to ensure that Europe has the cohesion and the institutional structures to tackle the global challenges that lie ahead.

It is clear that Ireland's future within Europe depends on increasing the openness of the European economy and its linkages with other parts of the world. The key role of international trade and investment generating growth will be central to the implementation of our key strategies for the future. The treaty recognises the growing importance of outward investment from Europe to the rest of the world. In that regard, Irish enterprises and business will gain from the strengthened EU position in relation to the negotiation of free trade agreements with third countries. Ireland will also benefit from a fair and balanced deal, which, hopefully, will eventually be agreed at the trade negotiations taking place under the WTO. These agreements will boost trade, technology transfer and lead to better integration by Irish companies into global markets.

It is of critical importance for Ireland, being a small open economy, to be directly engaged in these trade and investment negotiations involving the Commission and the other member states. In that context, failure to ratify the Lisbon treaty risks placing Ireland at the political and economic periphery of the European Union, with a danger that economic policies and institutional rules would be decided without taking Ireland's interests into account. This will cast serious doubts on Ireland's attractiveness as a good place to invest, with obvious related negative effects for job creation.

Ireland has been a significant beneficiary of EU integration and enlargement and the EU continues to be crucial to our future well-being and prosperity. That is why a more effective EU is in Ireland's best interests and why ratification of this treaty is so important.

Access to EU Structural Funds and participation in the EU's research and development programmes has done much, for example, to enable researchers in Ireland to access funds, collaborate with European partners in leading-edge research, develop a national system of innovation and upgrade the national science and technology infrastructure. EU supports have been used in addition to steadily increasing national supports and to lay the foundations for a knowledge-based economy. In overall terms, researchers and enterprises in Ireland received approximately €210 million of research funding from the Sixth Framework Programme, FP6, the largest monetary sum received to date from the framework programme. Funding provided under previous rounds of the framework programme, going back to the early 1980s, was a key element in building up the research capacity that is in place in the country today. The programme is also directly linked with the emergence of some key Irish start-up enterprises that have progressed to become important global players in a number of industry sectors. Under the EU's existing programme, FP7, a target of €600 million in research funding to Irish researchers and enterprises has been set for the period 2007 to 2013.

We sometimes forget that the EU has consistently upheld the rights of workers, to the extent that it has one of the highest levels of protection for workers in the world. Indeed, EU labour standards have been a major influence on the evolution of individual and collective workers' rights in Ireland. A solid foundation of employment rights now exists as a result of the membership of the European Union. Legislation emanating from the EU in the employment sphere has covered a wide range of areas, including organisation of working time, protection of young persons at work, safety, health and welfare at work, part-time workers' entitlements and fixed-term workers' entitlements. The area of employment equality and in particular tackling discrimination based on gender and marital status received a timely impetus in the middle 1970s from the series of equal pay and equal treatment directives that were adopted soon after Ireland's entry into the then EEC.

The Lisbon reform treaty offers even more improvements on social protection and workers' rights. The ratification of the Lisbon treaty will contribute to a significant strengthening of social rights throughout Europe. Its social clause will make social objectives such as the promotion of a high level of employment, adequate social protection, or the fight against social exclusion, more prominent when defining and implementing EU policies.

The Government fully supports the formal adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights which spells out basic rights of citizens. The treaty also formally recognises the special role of social partners and includes a tripartite social summit, where the social partners will meet the EU Presidency.

The European model is characterised by social dialogue and partnership and European values, as recognised in successive EU treaties. It is a model that rejects all forms of discrimination and demonstrates a strong adherence to social justice and fairness. The leadership shown by the unions has both inspired and strengthened the legitimacy of the European Union in this regard. We are encouraged that the European Trade Union Confederation, ETUC, has consistently said that its continuing ambitions for a new social progress protocol and for a strengthening of the posting of workers directive should not constitute a barrier to completing the current ratification process for the Lisbon treaty.

I emphasise the importance that the European Commission, member states and social partners attach to the work currently being conducted by way of joint analysis of the implementation of the current posting of workers directive. I also point to the important work of the newly created EU committee of experts, which is to review problems of implementation of the posting of workers directive and to promote the importance of enhanced administrative co-operation between member states and enhanced monitoring, control and enforcement arrangements in individual member states as a core element of the way forward. I am aware that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs has carried out valuable research on the situation in this regard in Sweden and Finland and is currently preparing a report on the Lisbon treaty and workers' rights. I look forward to the publication of this report in the near future.

Ireland now finds itself with very significant challenges on many fronts in terms of our economy, our firms, our unemployment position and the public finances. This means that we have very significant problems to address. We have taken some measures already and we will be enhancing and developing these significantly. To do so, we need the support of the EU to help us address these problems. That is why the European Globalisation Fund and the Commission proposals to allow member states more flexibility around accessing and spending the European Social Funds will be crucial for us. In addition, the EU has also permitted increased special measures for state aids to companies which will have direct benefits for workers. My Department will also be exploring the availability of funding under the EU Commission's recent proposal establishing a new European microfinance facility for employment and social inclusion.

During my recent meeting with EU Commissioner of Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Mr. Vladimir Spidla, the Commissioner signalled his positive support in relation to Ireland's use of these funds and underlined the European Commission's focus on keeping people in jobs. The European Globalisation Fund will provide vital training and other supports for workers affected by the recent large scale redundancies in the Limerick and wider mid-west region.

Almost no aspect of our public life has been untouched by the benefits of EU membership. The European Union has contributed to the modernisation of the Irish economy and society, and the Union, under the Lisbon reform treaty, will continue to be a positive influence in our move towards building and implementing the smart economy framework. In the months ahead, we will need to hear informed, sensible and rational debate. We need to ensure that the economic benefits of membership of the Union are reinforced and extended and, above all, we must aim to build on what has been achieved and avoid falling into a negative frame of mind about Europe.

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