Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the future of Europe, which the Taoiseach discussed at the Council meeting. I welcome the fact a civic engagement process is about to be launched next week in that regard. Could the Taoiseach give us some information about that? How will it operate? What timescale is involved? What is the proposed outcome? What particular format will it take?

It is very important that we have real engagement with the citizens of this country in respect of the future of Europe. We have had experiences of referendums on the Lisbon treaty, the Nice treaty and so on, where there was not sufficient debate, discussion or buy-in from the electorate in respect of the proposals. It is important that the process is very real and engages the citizens of this country.

If there are new proposals for further integration or a treaty change, they would need to be explained to the Irish people. They need to be involved in the discussion and debate before any new proposals are brought forward. Perhaps the Taoiseach could give us some more detail on the process envisaged.

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