Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I thank the technical group for tabling this motion. The Government amendment states that we support efforts to secure an agreement at this week's meeting of the European Council that fully protects Irish interests and contributes to the restoration of stability in the euro area. I might have added my own words to the amendment, hoping that the agreement "also restores the founding principles and ideals of the European project".

The democratic ideal behind the European Union is under threat. This ideal is unique in the international system of states. Independent nations of different strengths have come together in co-operation. That co-operation is structured around an equality among sovereignty, with one member one vote.

The crisis in the eurozone threatens all of this. If we cannot save our common currency everything we have built, all the co-operation and all the good things that have happened could come under threat. We could lose the common market, our common laws and all the benefits we have derived over many years of prosperity.

At the same time, the manner in which we attempt to save our common currency also threatens the European Union as certain members and unelected institutions seek to assert their will over others, undermine the democratic ideal and bring us back to the era of realpolitik , where the strong do what they will to survive and the weak do what they must.

We have a good and unique thing in the European Union and a good and unique thing in the euro currency. If war is an extension of politics by other means then so, at the other end of the spectrum, is economics. With economics, through the European Coal and Steel Community, the Common Market and the euro, we sought to do in Europe what others could not achieve with war or politics. However, we may have taken economics too far, and further than the people were willing to go. In establishing the eurozone we did not put in place the proper structures for the functioning of that common currency. We did not heed the warnings given by many at the time, including prizewinning economists.

We can not go back to the past. We are faced with a genuine dilemma. How do we protect Irish interests and sovereignty over our fiscal affairs? How do we protect and stabilise the euro area in a manner that is both credible and fair while restoring to the European Union that fundamental principle of equality among sovereigns where no member is more equal than another? That is the challenge that faces us now. This is the biggest decision the Government, the Dáil and the people will face, now or for many years to come.

It is not clear if there will be a decision in the coming days, but something will come soon. The status quo cannot last. It is important that we Deputies ready ourselves for the decisions that will come and the debates in which we will partake as elected Members on behalf of the people we represent.

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