In Ireland the debate on the Convention involves the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs which has commenced a series of hearings and debates and is briefed regularly by the Irish Convention participants. The National Forum on Europe has initiated a series of plenary sessions and regional public meetings on aspects of the Convention's work and will continue to operate for the rest of the year. I am pleased additional funding is being provided for the forum which only had a budget up to June this year; the new funding will bring it to the end of the year. It is an important window on debate for our citizens and it is in all our interests that it continue right through the period of the Intergovernmental Conference as important ideas and proposals will come through right to the end. The Minister for Foreign Affairs delivered a comprehensive overview of the position of the Government in his address to the Institute of European Affairs in recent weeks when he outlined the Government's position on the Convention.