Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I am opposing Deputy Catherine Murphy's amendment. On the basis of the advice from the Attorney General, the Government has agreed the text of the proposed amendment to the Constitution, the purpose of which is, first, to ratify the stability treaty and, second, to provide appropriate constitutional cover for implementing measures necessitated by the treaty. We in Ireland have a long and proud tradition of honouring our international treaty commitments and the Attorney General has advised that the current wording is the most appropriate means of ensuring we can do so in this case. As I explained, it is our view that both elements of the proposed wording are essential. They reflect the constitutional template already in the Constitution for the implementation of European Union law into Irish domestic law, which has served us well. The proposed wording does not have the effect of making the treaty part of our Constitution. Rather, it enables us to ratify the treaty and to take the necessary implementing measures.

Deputy Murphy argues her case on two essential bases, the first being that this treaty is of lesser weight or order than earlier EU treaties. She makes the point that the Amsterdam and Nice treaties do not contain a sentence similar to the one she is seeking to delete - the necessitated sentence, if I can call it that - whereas the accession, Maastricht and Lisbon treaties do. The reason for this is not that the Amsterdam and Nice treaties were somehow lower in status than other treaties but that they were purely amending treaties with no stand alone provision, whereas the stability treaty is a stand alone treaty, like the Maastricht treaty, although it is closely linked to the EU treaties.

The Deputy also argues that because it is an intergovernmental and not an EU treaty, we do not need to make this commitment. She points out the nature of this particular treaty in making her case for the amendment. Although this is an intergovernmental treaty, a key concern for Ireland throughout the negotiations was to ensure it stuck as closely as possible to existing EU treaties and law and provided for appropriate involvement for the EU institutions. We are strong supporters of the Union and that was an important issue for us in the negotiations.

These concerns are reflected in Article 2 of the stability treaty which makes it clear that the treaty must be in conformity with the European Union treaties. There are many references to existing European law throughout the treaty. The treaty also provides for the involvement of the European Union institutions and a role for the Houses of the Oireachtas. This role mirrors that which was introduced for the Houses of the Oireachtas by the Lisbon treaty, which was an innovation that was widely lauded, even by those who otherwise were not supportive of that treaty. I oppose Deputy Catherine Murphy's amendment for these reasons.

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