Maurice Hayes (Independent)

It is a great pleasure to welcome Deputy John Bruton to the House. I thank him for the enormous effort and the fundamental contribution he is making to the debate on the future of Europe, his great accomplishment of having chaired a working group on a contentious subject and brought it to near consensus and constructive agreement and for his work on the Presidium. It is good to know, where Ireland is concerned, that his mind has not been too broadened by travel.

I also thank Deputy Bruton for this contribution to the National Forum on Europe. He has readily come to the forum with his colleagues, straight from the Council Chamber, as it were, to give us a full flavour of the discussions. It is hugely important that all of us manage to engage the Irish people in this debate. The Leader is to be congratulated on organising this series of meetings with the people who are conducting the debate in the Convention.

I must also confess to being an Augustinian on the issue of an elected President. I have two concerns. The first involves recognition from the Aran Islands to the Peloponnese. The second is probably more substantial. I worry about what I see happening with the American Presidency, where the cost of maintaining a campaign is so large that the office is confined to people who either have the money or put themselves in hock to other people in order to obtain it.

It is difficult to explain the intricacies of qualified majority voting to the ordinary voter. Has anybody considered an alternative, such as a weighted majority vote along with a majority of the states voting? It is a type of double lock. How is it proposed to deal with the amendments that are coming forward and the other sections of the draft constitution as they are drafted? Where does Deputy Bruton see the charter of fundamental rights fitting in?

I thank Deputy Bruton both for his contribution and for his wider work at the Convention.