It is suggested that the Irish people have a duty to vote down the Nice treaty on behalf of the disenfranchised peoples of Europe who would do the same thing if only their governments granted them a referendum – a sort of re-run of how the Irish saved civilisation in the dark ages. It is patronising and presumptuous to decide on the basis that elected governments elsewhere do not represent their peoples. All of our partners are fully-fledged democracies. There is no sign of popular agitation on the Nice treaty anywhere else. I have been present at bilateral meetings with applicant countries. Not one complained about the Nice treaty or asked us to vote it down – it was the contrary. The British Conservative Party twice tried to win a general election on a deeply eurosceptic platform. On both occasions, it suffered a crushing defeat. The same was administered to Mr. Jean Marie Le Pen by President Chirac in France, something that made me proud that Fianna Fáil is allied with the Gaullists.