Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I look forward to what the Minister of State might have to say in response to that issue.

If we are not to have that vote - I still think we should - we need a mechanism in some of the real detailed negotiation, for example, around those less contentious energy trade deals that we might be doing. We need to involve the committees here, and involve the Dáil, because in some instances we have connections, understandings and interest in what the final points of those details are. More than anything else, it might bring us closer to what Europe should be about and what should be the sixth scenario that the Council could present in the future Europe, that is, Europe going back to what it does best, what it stands for and what it brings to the table, including its collaboration with the higher values and ideals around environmental, social and justice standards. That is what I would like to see, in some ways trying to salvage something good out of the wreckage that 70 Tory MPs have created in this whole process.

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