Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

In any event, as the Deputy is well aware, the preamble to the treaty states clearly that countries that ratify the fiscal stability treaty will have access to funding from the ESM should they ever need it. These are measures of confidence that I think are fundamental to the way people in this country are now thinking about the treaty. People want to know that the line of investment into our country can continue to be strong. They like to hear that the corporate tax rate will be unchanged. The Deputy will be aware that tomorrow, I think, the Intergovernmental Conference will sign off on the vote taken by the European Parliament recently on the adoption of the protocols to the Lisbon treaty. There will be two countries that cannot actually meet the deadline - France and the Czech Republic - because of the national elections in France in the next month and the Czech Republic's internal measures.

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