Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Deputies. One leader of some of these factions has split every party of which he was a member and put to rest some of these parties forever and a day.

All of these latest developments show that what Sinn Féin warned against has come to pass. We argued that the Single European Act and the Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice treaties were all steps in the transformation of an economic community of independent states into one big European state. An é go bhfuil an Rialtas tar éis glacadh leis nach dtabharfaidh sé cead do dhaoine a vótaí a chaitheamh i reifreann anseo san athbhliain?

Not only have some parties in this and previous Governments taken the wrong position on referendums and disregarded the outcome of some of them, but now the Government refuses to make it clear there will be a referendum. There should be a referendum. Why is the Government afraid of citizens having their rights?

We are for Europe.

Europe is bigger than the European Union, but we are for a Europe of equals. We are for co-operation and a different type of European Union. One of our objections was the fundamentally undemocratic nature of the Union that has been evolving. The behaviour of the French and German leaders in recent weeks has demonstrated this very clearly.

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