Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

Following the Taoiseach's announcement that Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn will be Ireland's new EU Commissioner, will he invite her here to discuss her new portfolio when it is agreed, and to discuss the new relationship between the European Commission and the European Parliament in the context of the Lisbon Treaty?

Today's newspapers reported that Denmark has done a deal with the United States on the Copenhagen climate change conference. We were led to believe that the outcome would be a legally-binding agreement, but it will be no such thing. It appears the Copenhagen event will be a damp squib. Was the Irish Government a party to that decision? The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, made so much of the issue but was absent from the meeting where the decision apparently was made. Does he know anything about this? What is the Government's position concerning this matter? The EU was supposed to be leading the way on climate change, yet it now seems to have done a sweet-heart deal behind everybody's backs. At least, one country appears to have done so and it will make it much more difficult to meet any of the Kyoto targets or to build on them.

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