Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

In terms of the conduct of aspects of our foreign policy, particularly in this area, Ireland's voice in the world is far greater amplified by adopting common positions with European Union partners. The idea that Ireland can engage in an individual initiative, outside the parameters of the European Union position of seeking to grow a consensus toward an outcome that meets the needs of the situation, is neither realistic nor achievable. Ireland is working with partners on a common position so that the European Union can speak to other regions in the world with the strength of a collective voice. That is a far more effective way of pursuing our foreign policy objective of securing a global agreement on climate change than the idea that we would progress beyond the current position of the European Union in terms of our own particular commitments. That would have adverse economic impacts for us and affect our competitiveness in a way that would not in any event achieve our objectives.

We must work with others to achieve those objectives. The reality is that failure to secure agreement does not rest with Europe; there are other countries elsewhere in the world that are major contributors to carbon emissions and which are not facing up to their responsibilities. Everybody must do their bit and Europe is prepared to do more - as we have indicated and are prepared to indicate publicly - to bring momentum to these negotiations. What happened at Copenhagen was that the prospect of agreement, unfortunately, fell away in terms of the initial ambition we adopted. We must build on where we were at in Copenhagen and seek to make a success of Mexico. In the context of the next series of negotiations, the European Union will adopt its position after the spring Council.

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