John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I welcome former Taoiseach, Deputy John Bruton, and I praise him for his efforts to have God mentioned in a European Constitution. The history of Europe shows us that such a humble mention would only inspire us to greater things. Perhaps it is the lack of such an understanding that has caused so many problems in the past. I hope in the future we can see that pure secularism is arid and sterile.

Deputy Bruton should consider whether Russia and the Urals, from Vorkuta to the Caspian Sea, are also European centres. I am paraphrasing Margaret Thatcher, something I am not used to doing. Budapest, Warsaw and Prague were mentioned as European centres when the Iron Curtain still existed, but there seems to be an acceptance that Russia will not be included and will remain separate to the rest of the European community. That is not the correct way to deal with Europe. We must engage with and embrace Russia, which is a huge and marvellous country comprised of 11 time zones. It is part of Europe and we must try to include it within the European Union.

As functions are decentralised – the Ariane rocket, for example, is launched from French Guyana – would it not be proper if the Third World aid office was decentralised from Brussels to Dublin? We are in a unique situation: we have never had colonies and we have excellent Third World relations. We would be uniquely placed for any such decentralisation and Deputy Bruton should consider that.