As I understand it, the Government's position on the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights is that while it finds it interesting as a statement of general principle, it does not intend to give it any effect in law. This is a short sighted approach, although I do not underestimate the difficulties of marrying our Constitution with an international declaration. Our approach to the European Convention on Human Rights, which is over 50 years old, is that it has persuasive force but it does not override our Constitution. Ireland undertakes, generally speaking, to give effect in Irish law to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Given that the list of countries subscribing to the European Convention on Human Rights will soon be almost the same as the list of member states, I do not think it would have been difficult to devise a mechanism whereby the convention can be amalgamated with the charter and that, in turn, can be related to the Irish Constitution. I appreciate that there are legal difficulties but we should look to overcome them nevertheless. If Europe is to be more than a Single Market or a businessman's Europe, it has to be grounded in rights which are given to individual European citizens. These rights, in turn, have to be enshrined in a charter or a basic law. I do not think it would be beyond the wit of our legal people to relate that to the Irish Constitution. Instead, I understand the Irish position is that while this is all very interesting and full of good ideas, we do not intend to implement it in a serious way, which I regret.