Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

I thank the Tánaiste for sharing time and for allowing me the opportunity to respond to the Technical Group's motion and to speak to the Government's amendment.

I reiterate the Tánaiste's call for this House to unite behind the Taoiseach as he puts on the green jersey to represent citizens of Ireland at this important summit. I note that an amendment has also been tabled by Fianna Fáil and other members of the Technical Group. This is the time to unite behind the Taoiseach who will be negotiating on behalf of the Government and Irish citizens.

I welcome the opportunity to debate issues related to the European Union. In the past nine months there have been many more such debates. This is to be welcomed as it is a positive development. The work of the European Union affects the lives of people in Ireland daily, whether through the provision of continued support for rural communities, the Common Agricultural Policy or the provision of support for high-end innovation and research and development initiatives. Moreover, the European Union has helped Ireland to provide educational opportunities for its citizens for many decades. It also provides Ireland with access to a vast market of 500 million people. For a small, open trading nation that depends for its living on interacting with the outside world, the ability to access 500 million people through the internal market is critical to Ireland's present and, more importantly, its future to assist its return to economic security and growth.

These are but a few of the real-life aspects of the European Union that should also be recalled and reflected on when some in this House speak about Ireland being forced to do things within the Union. That patently is not the case, nor will it ever be. It is simply not that kind of union. I could have mentioned other aspects such as the open skies across Europe policy that has seen an explosion in the availability of low-cost air travel, of which Irish people avail in large numbers. I could have mentioned the reduction in mobile phone roaming charges delivered by the Union or perhaps the support Ireland has received to protect its environment or the development and codification of Irish people's rights as workers, women and citizens of Europe. The European Union is important to us.

It is unfortunate that this debate is on a motion tabled by the Technical Group that appears to depict the European Union as the other, when, in fact, it is us: Ireland and its people. I reject absolutely the depiction by Deputy Mattie McGrath that somehow or other this motion pertains to a bunch of people who are telling us what to do. Ireland is an integral part of the European Union. While meetings take place in Brussels for the most part, that does not mean the debates that take place or the decisions reached are not ours - they most certainly are. At each meeting Ireland is represented either at official or ministerial level or, in the case of the European Council, at the level of Head of State or Government. The Taoiseach will be in Brussels this evening to represent Ireland at the critical meeting of European Union leaders. He will be there to represent Ireland's interests and, in so doing, co-operate with his colleagues and peers with a view to finding credible and lasting solutions to the very real threat posed to the stability of the common currency. He is working to ensure an outcome that will be good for Ireland and the European Union.

We find ourselves in the midst of a severe economic and financial crisis which has engulfed the European Union. It is only through continued close co-operation with our EU partners that we will manage to find a way through the crisis. The Government has been consistent in stating what is most needed to emerge from the European Council meeting tomorrow is a credible solution to the urgent crisis facing us. This is absolutely critical. In the longer term, Ireland, in common with the rest of the European Union and the euro area, has a pressing interest in ensuring the necessary measures are put in place to strengthen economic union. We do not seek to strengthen it for its own sake, as it is a means to an end. Increased discipline and enforcement consistent with the principles of democratic accountability and legitimacy would be good for Ireland. One must ensure negative spillover effects from one euro area member state do not have an impact on all the others. We should have nothing to fear from the codification and implementation of a clear set of rules to be implemented by all. Ireland plays by the rules and wishes to ensure others do too.

I am confident that what will emerge from the European Council meeting will set the European Union and the euro area on a path by which we can move ahead and stay ahead of the current crisis. That is what the Taoiseach is working towards at this important summit. Consequently, I am happy to support the Government's amendment, as moved by the Tánaiste, that Dáil Éireann "supports the Government in its efforts to secure an agreement at this week's meeting of the European Council that fully protects Irish interests and that contributes to the restoration of stability in the euro area".

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