Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

Like others, I am deeply concerned about this week's developments in Europe. We are approaching the time by which we must act. While I am on Ireland's side, I am also on Europe's side and I want the project and our Government to succeed, but the way in which events are rapidly developing is giving me serious cause for reflection. Never before has the principle of unanimous consent been so recklessly abandoned by the heads of the EU's powerful countries. Never before has the process of intergovernmentalism gone into sixth gear to the detriment of institutions that were designed as safeguards. Democratic legitimacy is becoming a footnote. This is serious.

In a recent essay, Jürgen Habermas stated that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy had agreed to a vague compromise and that all signs "indicate that they would both like to transform the executive federalism enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty into an intergovernmental supremacy of the European Council that runs contrary to the spirit of the agreement". The larger members in the intergovernmental process could dominate the others. We have seen it already. Deputy Ross referred to the pre-summit meeting. I wonder whether it is the case that we are not so much at the table any more as we are on the menu. Even the most committed Europeans are questioning the legitimacy of these developments.

During the Lisbon treaty, there was much debate on the loss of our voice at the Commission table, but that table has become irrelevant. Transparency was a primary element of the reform agenda articulated by the Government, yet we are being told to trust it. We do not know what the bottom line is. This is what the last Government did. Citizens saw the bank guarantee in the middle of the night and it went disastrously wrong. We are still working through the consequences this week. While the troika deal was being done, senior members of the Government were oblivious. Parts of our budget were presented to the European Parliament with the phrase "we have decided", yet we were told that everything was on the table. If we are to rebuild trust, we need transparency and we must know what the bottom line is. We cannot rely on media leaks. We do not need to be patted on the head and told that the Government knows what is best for Ireland.

The Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, has welcomed the leadership she has seen in the past week. This is terrifying, as I have not seen leadership, but something more akin to a dictatorship.

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