Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I thank Members. The exchanges at the end tend to be better than the set-piece speeches. I have been ignoring most of the set-piece speeches.

The European Council was the beginning of a new phase because it is implementing the processes that have been put in place in the Lisbon treaty. The gestation period of the treaty has been long. It is interesting that in facing the challenges the European Council has mapped a very ambitious route forward for Europe up to the year 2020. I prefer to use the title "the strategy for jobs and growth". I hate the jargon "Europe 2020", which means nothing to ordinary people. People want to know what Europe is doing about jobs and growth.

The Heads of Government have considered enhanced economic governance. It is critical that we have that. A small open economy such as ours does not have the capacity to influence the great movements but if we are part of Europe and engaged in it we become part of the process. The Council reviewed and pushed forward the financial supervision and regulation issues, which is something we will need to discuss in the committees in this House because they will be critically important in the future.

In the external relations area the leaders marked the continuing relevance of the enlargement with the decision that was made on Iceland. I very much welcome Iceland, a country with which we have historic connections. I look forward to the negotiations.

The Government very much welcomes the growth and jobs strategy. We believe that the strategy will provide an essential framework. Keeping the targets focused was the most important point. Deputies Ó Snodaigh and Costello and all who contributed referred to the Lisbon strategy. That strategy did not reach its targets because every time a meeting took place someone added a new target. It became like a Christmas tree that was overloaded with everyone's favourite bauble and it tipped over. Real progress can be made by focusing on five areas where we can make progress. The choice of targets is absolutely consistent with the desire to keep the strategy focused on areas that will make Europe relevant to the needs of citizens. It will provide an essential framework on which the European Union and the member states can work.

Climate change and the targets on greenhouse gas reductions were raised. A realistic discussion took place on those issues. Deputy Barrett adverted to the significant opportunities we face in this country. I agree with him. Issues arise in terms of interconnectors and grids. We discussed one of them in the House last night. We must get the entire infrastructure in place because we have significant potential, especially in wind and wave energy. If a fraction of the money which, for example, has been invested in nuclear energy research could be invested in clean energy technologies we would make real progress.

The summit made progress towards achieving the millennium goals and the role Europe will play in addressing the plight of the poorest people on the planet. This country is committed to the principle of reducing global poverty. The goals must be achieved universally. Deputy Ó Snodaigh inquired how one measures, for example, both internally within Europe and externally, issues relating to poverty. Even the worst critic of Europe would not ignore the fact that it is playing a significant role. Ending hunger, for example, was set as a bottom line. That must be something every civilised nation is prepared to work towards.

Israel and Gaza were mentioned again by two Deputies. Significant discussions were had on them at the Foreign Affairs Council on the Tuesday before the meeting. That has already been reported and discussed by the Oireachtas joint committee.

The European Council meeting was a very good day's work. It has given Europe a strategy for jobs and growth. It also deals with other priority issues such as regulating the financial services sector. It helped to orient the Van Rompuy taskforce in the job it has set to produce a better budgetary discipline with the Union and better prospects in the future.

Overall, we can expect more work in the European Council. It is likely to meet in this formation six times over a 12 month period. We have come through a period where crisis management was the main focus of Europe. I hope from here on in we can look at the post-crisis period and how we create jobs and strategies for growth. I thank Members for their contributions. If I did not address any specific issue raised that is particularly important to a Member I would be delighted to respond in writing.

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