Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House for this enlightening debate. It seems that neutrality is back on track again. Our neutrality was shown to be non-existent during the recent Iraqi war. That is probably the reason we are here tonight contributing to this debate.

Deputy Gay Mitchell must be complimented on his forward thinking. He took a political risk. I recall my first radio interview following my election to the House. I was asked by the allegedly non-biased radio interviewer what it was like to be elected to the Seanad as a member of an unpopular party. I said that 500,000 people had voted for the party in the general election and that it took political risks and unpopular decisions. Perhaps that is to the party's detriment, but times are changing. Fine Gael looks ahead because it is proactive. It does not run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. It took serious decisions in the past which cost people their political careers. I do not make any apologies for this document. It shows forward thinking and illustrates the fact that the party is not afraid to take political risks. Deputy Gay Mitchell must be commended in that regard.

We, as a party, do not take an à la carte view of the European Union and its decisions. We have been instrumental in terms of our input at European level on many issues, including security, justice, humanitarian, economic and social issues. We have always been proactive. As a member of the Christian Democrats in Europe, we have been extremely forward in our thinking. However, the landscape has changed in Europe and throughout the world.

We are often told by educationalists that we should act locally and think globally. Neutrality served its purpose when we were a self-determined nation and we looked inward. However, we now look outward because we are part of Europe. We must forget the scaremongering and the spin. The spin which will be put on this argument by those on the left is that Fine Gael wants a federal state and that we are sending our sons and daughters to be killed in the trenches. However, we are not interested in spin. This is about a constitutional treaty, not about forming a federal Europe. We are talking about mutual, not military, alliances to safeguard our citizens and to help the countries or citizens which are in danger from dictators.