Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I too extend a warm welcome to the President, Mr. Cox, today and thank him for his very wide-ranging address on many of the issues that are being raised in the current debate. It is a debate which is long overdue. It is a fundamental examination of our role in the European Union, an appraisal of where we are within it and a fundamental question for us about our contribution to a future Union, particularly in the context of enlargement. It is welcome that we are having this debate, despite having to be dragged kicking and screaming into it.

In the context of the wider debate, it is disappointing to find that the vision and idealism that has driven the Union from day one does not appear to have reached many people who see the Union in negative terms. Some people see it as a morass of directives and rules with faceless bureaucrats in a polished marble building somewhere in the heart of Brussels telling us how to run our lives, whether we are small butchers in Nenagh, business people or housewives. There continues to be a major challenge in how we inform the wider population of the vision at the heart of Europe and how we engage people. The work of the national forum must be commended. I made that point when the President visited Thurles and the forum visited north Tipperary.

It has been a disappointment to me that the whole role of social Europe and how we have benefited from it has not featured centrally in the continuing debate on the Nice treaty. The European Union is not just an economic union; the social cohesion at its heart makes it unique. Perhaps the President could briefly outline the plans for the charter of fundamental rights and where the project for a social Europe is going. We feel that we know where it has gone so far, but it might be useful to outline where it is going in the future.