Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I thank Deputy Gilmore for sharing time with me. In his statement today the Taoiseach made clear that since entry into force of the Lisbon treaty the European Council has a more prominent role in deciding and driving the overall direction of the Union and its policies, which I welcome. I welcome also that the President as chairman will drive those policies in the interim when the quarterly and informal meetings are not taking place.

It was disappointing to hear that even though there were other items on the agenda, only one item was addressed, namely, the fiscal position of Greece which, no doubt, was a pressing issue. Nevertheless, the climate change issue post-Copenhagen, also a prominent issue on the agenda, was not addressed. Likewise, the EU2020 strategy referred to by other speakers was not addressed. The EU2020 strategy has not been prominently addressed anywhere, not even in this House. I believe we should afford it considerable debate in this House. EU2020 strategy is a rather anodyne term. I suggest it should be a growth and jobs strategy, which would make clear that about which we are talking. What does EU2020 strategy mean? It is merely a carry on from the Lisbon strategy, the thrust of which is not fully clear. Growth, jobs and competitiveness are the important issues, as referred to earlier by the Taoiseach.

The passport issue, on which I did not speak this morning, is a serious matter, one which I have no doubt will continue to grab headlines during the run-up to the forthcoming Council meeting in March. This issue should be addressed in a European context as not alone were Irish passports and citizens' identities stolen and used in such a fashion, so too were the passports and identities of other citizens of the European Union, in particular citizens of our neighbours, the United Kingdom and France and Germany. I believe the Taoiseach should communicate with those countries on this matter. It is not acceptable that the issue was not raised by the Council of Ministers yesterday. I believe the Taoiseach should make it a major issue at the forthcoming meeting. If we are to have a preferential trading agreement and we are the largest trading entity with Israel, we should expect friendly countries to respond in kind.

That being said, I would like to comment on the climate change issue. Copenhagen was disappointing. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, other Ministers and the Taoiseach spoke glowingly in this House of what could be done in Copenhagen. Until close to the end of the negotiations in Copenhagen, we were expecting a binding agreement.

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