Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the constitutional or legislative steps he expects will be required following the outcome of the EU summit in Brussels on 18 and 19 June 2009. [24931/09]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Gilmore in his absence from the Chamber because he, like myself, shares a passion for where we find ourselves over the next nine days. The outcome of the European Council held in Brussels on 18-19 June was a considerable success for Ireland. We achieved all of our pre-summit goals, including the permanent retention of an EU Commissioner for Ireland and a set of legally binding guarantees on the right to life, family and education, taxation, security and defence. The legal guarantees will later be attached to the EU treaties as a protocol at which stage they will enjoy full treaty status. In the interim they will be lodged with the United Nations.

On foot of the decisions taken at the June European Council, the Government agreed to propose a constitutional amendment so as to permit the State to ratify the Lisbon treaty. The wording of the amendment is contained in the Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Bill 2009. This Bill was approved by an overwhelming majority in both Houses of the Oireachtas on 9 July. On the same date, a statement for the information of voters, which includes the wording of the amendment, was agreed by the Oireachtas. It is being sent to each voter in advance of the referendum.

In the event that the people vote to approve the treaty, I anticipate further legislation will be required in two areas. As with all previous amendments of the EU treaties, the European Communities Acts 1972 to 2007 will need to be amended to give effect to the Lisbon treaty in domestic law. The European Union (Scrutiny) Act 2002 will also need to be updated to take account of the new treaty.

The Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009 was published on 6 September and has an important role to play. If the referendum is successful, it is intended to enact this Bill. It has two main purposes: to enhance Oireachtas control of the State's participation in EDA projects and programmes and to make participation by the State in permanent structured co-operation under the Lisbon treaty subject to Dáil approval. Both of these Bills are contingent on the outcome of the referendum.

As a result of the positive outcome to the June European Council, the issues about which concerns were raised last year have all been satisfactorily addressed. This means that the Lisbon treaty will this year be a very different proposition for Ireland in that it comes with substantive additional guarantees. This new package provides an excellent basis for consulting the people and seeking their approval for the ratification of the treaty. This is a positive step we can take on the road to economic recovery which is why ratification is supported not just by the main political parties but by Irish businesses, Irish trade unions and Irish farming bodies.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Can the Minister of State confirm that the process of lodging the guarantees as an agreement with the United Nations, for example, follows the process followed in the Good Friday Agreement, which was also lodged with international bodies? For that reason it acquired status.

I refer to the conclusion on the status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which becomes a primary instrument of law. The position that no principle of the treaty can overrule a principle of the charter creates a space for legislation advancing workers' rights. I refer to the statement of the Heads of State in respect of social Europe. This is seen as a strengthening against the more ribald competitive aspects of the original draft of the Lisbon treaty. This is important as people come to make their decision. Work remains to be done in member states but it will be in the best interests of the good faith of the whole matter if legislation could be prepared to advance the legislation in respect of workers' rights that the charter makes possible.

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I could not agree more with the Deputy, particularly in respect of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This is a singularly uplifting document. It is probably the best document that has been produced since the Treaty of Rome. It is an extraordinary document that sets out the values we, as Europeans, espouse. On the matter of workers, John Monks of the ETUC, who is no ingenue and is not easily fooled in these matters, said that "the EU is like a European trade union; whenever we do things together, we are more effective, more powerful and more impressive than if we act separately". The ETUC supports ratification of the Lisbon treaty and the final point to Congress made by Mr. Monks was that he hoped the Irish people would approve it.

What is really significant about the charter and the extraordinary mendacious statements made on some of the more lurid posters around the city is that the charter is not just an uplifting document, it is a celebration of the values that have helped us as a nation since we joined the European Union. There are few rights that workers have enjoyed in this country that have not been advanced by our membership of the European Union. The Deputy and I both recall the bad days prior to our entry to the European Union when women workers were treated as second class citizens by the laws of this State. Their rights were vindicated and furthered by Europe. I was much impressed by Des Geraghty when he recently stated that every trade union official dealing with an employer knows the enormous benefit Europe has brought to the fight for the protection of workers.

It was my great privilege to work with Proinsias de Rossa, MEP, during the course of the convention on the future of Europe in the social Europe group. The people who work there, whether from the left, right or centre, would not recognise the debate taking place in this country on the issue. The suggestion that somehow workers' rights will be trampled on is such a farce when one considers what impelled the movement towards the enactment of the charter. The suggestion that our minimum wage rate will be undermined is a downright lie. I am sad Sinn Féin Members are not in the House because I heard their spokesperson recently state that the Lisbon treaty does not alter the minimum wage, and that was honest. The treaty cannot do so. I have been a trade unionist for most of my life and I am still a member of a trade union, and I support that. Joe Higgins, MEP, of all people speaks about Cóir's posters which suggest that the minimum wage will do a disservice to those who fought for workers' rights. The mendacious statements that are made are not just a disservice to workers' rights, they are a disservice to the truth, and political debate above all else should depend on truth.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To draw on one of the points made by the Minister of State at the June Council meeting and the legal guarantees which were agreed by the 27 member states on that occasion, I have read much literature in recent weeks, particularly a leaflet distributed to every home in the country by the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group, which is ultimately the UK Independence Party and the pro-Commonwealth anti-European grouping in the European Parliament. It states these legal guarantees are not worth the paper on which they are written. Will the Minister of State clarify the legal status of those guarantees and precisely how they are legally binding?

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. We find ourselves in the bizarre situation that wearing a different label, the UK Independence Party, a party not known to be interested in workers or Ireland, has a view that happens to accord with Sinn Féin and Cóir Youth Defence. The guarantees have full international status. First and foremost, they come from a decision of the European Council, made by 27 sovereign and independent states and have all the weight that goes with that. During this debate I have challenged people to name one occasion on which the 27, 15 or six member states reneged on a decision they made with regard to one another. It is preposterous. Going beyond that, as Deputy Michael D. Higgins stated, this decision will be lodged with the United Nations and nobody has ever challenged that process, which was adopted in the case of Denmark and, the Deputy reminded the House, in the case of the Belfast Agreement; it is not challengeable. These groups can make as many charges and allegations as they wish but the reality is that the guarantees will be translated into a protocol. Given that an agreement has been reached between Slovenia and Croatia on the thorny issue on the piece of coastline outside Izola and Piran, we will see progress made there.

The Irish people are entitled to a truthful debate. I respect people who take a different view from me on Europe, and I have stated this on several occasions, even though I will never turn around to their view and they will probably never turn around to mine. However, I disrespect people, such as members of the UKIP, making mendacious claims that have nothing to do with Irish life. During a recent debate at the Shelbourne Hotel I said to Mr. Farage, a charming gentleman from that party, that I do not object to his views because of where he comes from but I object to the views he expressed in the literature referred to by Deputy Creighton because of what he stands for. It is a bigoted, narrow, insular, little Englander view that has nothing whatsoever to add to political debate in this country and certainly it is not a view held with the interests of the Irish people at heart.