Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I promise to lead by example and keep things short. I welcome Proinsias De Rossa and thank him for his presentation.

When Mr. Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament, came to the House, he gave a vivid illustration of what, in his view, fundamental European rights were all about. His argument was that if one went into an Irish national school, one should see on one poster the fundamental rights of the Irish Constitution and on another the fundamental rights of every citizen of the European Union. Is that the view emerging from the Convention at this stage? I thought it was a vivid and simple way of communicating people's rights.

It is very important that any charter of fundamental rights or new constitution that results from the Intergovernmental Conference is put to every country in Europe. To have countries vote on this is very important because it demands that we, as politicians, put the case to people and make arguments. We are in a unique position in that since 1973 we have put all treaties to the people. Is there a unified view coming from the Convention on how we might go about ratifying the results of this process in 18 months or two years?