Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I want to take up a theme referred to by Senator MacSharry among many others. There is no doubt that political consensus on Europe among the major parties has been beneficial in getting a clear idea about what we want from the negotiations, be they at Intergovernmental Conference level or latterly at the Convention, and in ensuring there is a coherent message from the major parties when it comes to trying to sell it in a referendum. We should not underestimate the political consensus that has been achieved when one compares the debate that took place in Britain yesterday where the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Labour Party and the Tory Party were at loggerheads on this issue. We had a debate on the single currency ten years ago. The British are ten years behind in having any agreement on a single currency.