Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the decision. It is the right one and it should not have required a legal opinion. It is a very important treaty and the people have a right to decide. I asked over two weeks ago at the Institute of International and European Affairs how we could honestly expect people to be happy if they are told a treaty is important enough to save the euro but not important enough for them to have a say. I warmly welcome the referendum. I have argued consistently, particularly arising from my experiences of the second Lisbon treaty referendum and directing the campaign, that the people need to be engaged. We need to take the people with us on our journey in respect of the European Union, not just on the treaty under discussion.

I respectfully suggest to the Government side that it may very well need the support of quite a number of us on this side to have the treaty passed and that there should be less of the partisan commentary. This would be appropriate given the gravity of the issues before us. The crucial issue, based on experience of the Lisbon treaty, is the necessity to engage with people on this issue. I am clear where my party and I stand; we will be supporting the ratification of the treaty. We welcome the fact that it is going before the people. We predict another treaty down the line that will have to be put to the people given the issues that have yet to be grasped by our European leadership.

We have been very critical of the manner in which the Government has engaged with the Dáil on this issue over the past six to nine months. I asked that a sub-committee of the Dáil be established to deal with the lead-up to the treaty negotiations so Members would have an opportunity to inform themselves of the detail of the treaty, the issues to be discussed. Regrettably, that did not happen. Before Christmas, I asked for meetings with the Taoiseach to discuss the Government's position in advance of the summit before Christmas, again so the Opposition would be apprised of the issues covered by the treaty and the negotiating stance of the Government.

The bottom line is that, unfortunately, we cannot approach Europe or every European treaty on the basis that we are scared about what may emerge or have to be put to the people, or that we want to do everything possible to prevent a referendum, as a German Minister stated here last week when he confirmed a report in The Irish Times by Arthur Beesley that every effort was made to avoid a constitutional change. That is regrettable and is not the way to approach these issues.

It is very clear that this treaty is very important to Ireland's economic future and also to the broader circumstances across Europe. We have said the treaty is reasonable but it is not, by any means, the answer to the eurozone crisis. Far more substantive issues must be dealt with, such as broadening the mandate of the European Central Bank and developing a broader fiscal union involving genuine transfers from stronger states to others, if we are to maintain equilibrium in our monetary union. We must learn the lessons from the flawed design of the euro, which have come to pass in what has been labelled as "the great recession", the worst in 80 years. We must take all that on board, and the only way we can do so is through more fundamental change. That said, this is a reasonable treaty. I accept what the Tánaiste is saying about access to the ESM and the content of an appendix to a treaty.

In essence, if we want to get back into the marketplace we want the ESM as a backstop to ensure we can keep our education and welfare systems running along with the various other services provided through current expenditure. We will support the ratification of the treaty and will be proposing a series of additional measures for the legislation that appears before us. The referendum will only pass if we present it to the people as part of a series of measures required to return Europe to jobs and growth. It cannot be presented as the only major reform on the agenda.

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