Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

When we seek support or understanding of our interests at the Council of Europe after a referendum, it is the governments that are our partners, not the scattered groups of eurosceptics across Europe. Their support for the Irish "No" will find no echo in the Council Chamber to relieve our isolation.

What is the advantage to Ireland of voting "No"? Sovereignty is repeatedly invoked. In the last decade, two of the most sovereign countries in the world have been Albania and North Korea. They are utterly sovereign with no ties to other nations, but also utterly impoverished. The period of the isolated republic in the 1950s was one of the least satisfactory in our history. It was then that the haemorrhage of emigration and our seeming inability to provide for our people called into question the viability of our independence and sovereignty. The turning point was the decision to seek investment by US multinational corporations and membership of the Common Market, two things still detested by old-fashioned ideologues who want to drag us back 50 years. The multinationals have been the making of modern Ireland and our wealth is now greater than that of any corporation.

One of the best statements ever made on the subjects of sovereignty and neutrality in the context of international co-operation was made by Éamon de Valera in the Dáil on 24 July 1946 regarding membership of the United Nations. Much of that statement would equally apply to the EU. He said that small nations are probably more attached to their sovereignty than big ones but it must be realised that, whenever we enter into any combination and accept its rules to an extent, we deny the right to decide for ourselves. It is not so much a surrender as a pooling and sharing of sovereignty.