Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Charles Flanagan, the members of his committee and the Members of the House who have spoken on the issue today. In particular I thank Deputy Charles Flanagan for the report of his committee. As Deputy Costello made abundantly clear, this route whereby Standing Orders are used to allow a committee to raise an issue of significance under the provisions of the Lisbon treaty is a very important parliamentary procedure and highlights the importance of using the powers under the Lisbon treaty to have more parliamentary scrutiny and accountability in decision making across the Union. Parliament's voice absolutely needs to be heard not only from the perspective of the Executive, but more particularly from the perspective of the Commission and the Council so that it is clear if there is a red light on a particular issue, the voice of the national parliaments is heard. That was something that was an inimical part of the Lisbon treaty in the debate that ensued, as colleagues will be aware.

Deputy Tóibín and to a lesser extent Deputy Dooley raised the question of engagement, which I would like to address on behalf of the Government. I understood from what Deputy Tóibín said that he is effectively arguing that the Government and the State should walk away from the current debate on the CCCTB proposal that has emanated from the Commission. He is suggesting doing something that his party did not do over a 14-year period in the Northern Ireland peace process. The two principles in that case were: first, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, which in a funny way is the kind of rationale at the heart of the European project albeit a bigger project now because of enlargement; and second, one should stay at the table and persuade others of the position that one wants to take up. The Government would contend that it is not in our national interest simply to walk away or to use the phraseology of Deputy Dooley from Clare that we should use the red flag. That is not in our national interest primarily because were we to walk away-----

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