Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I welcome this debate even though we are all supporting the passage of the Nice treaty. It is unusual that both sides of the House are ad idem on a subject. This consensus is not present in the general population. We should not be under the impression that our well-informed views on the Nice treaty and its implications are also shared by the population at large. The same problem which was encountered last year is still very much in evidence – people still do not know what the issues are, despite the considerable amount of work done since the last referendum. I respectfully suggest to the Minister that there is still a huge job to be done in explaining the issues, in particular our relationship with the European Union.

The decision of the people in last year's referendum has forced us to debate our role in the European Union, our relationship with the other member states and our potential relationship with future applicant members. This debate is long overdue and must be seen as a positive move. Coming at a particular time in our political and economic history it allows us to reflect on the level of change in Irish society, the extent to which that change has been influenced by our membership of the European Union, the extent to which it is reflected in our own institutions and attitudes and where we go from here.

The result of last year's referendum raised huge concerns in my mind about how we would be perceived within the European Union and about the attitude of the Irish people to our membership of the Union. We know the long list of benefits Ireland has derived from membership. We have bought into the vision of Europe but, given the result of last year's referendum, we must ask whether the majority view in Ireland is supportive of the central values of the European Union.