Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, and endorse all that has been said about his focused and committed involvement to this process since he was appointed to his current position. I will relay an anecdote to indicate his level of commitment to the convention and to what for Ireland, as a small country, is an important dimension to our Europen adventure – the question of forging alliances and establishing friendships. I was attending a meeting in Brussels last June and, by coincidence, ended up on the same train as the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, which I only discovered on arrival at the other end. I was in his company going to the city when he spent almost the entire period on the telephone establishing contact with his opposite numbers in several like minded states in order to ensure there would be a consensus, or at least an attempt at a consensus, on an agenda and on the various aspects of the agenda prior to a meeting the following day. I do not say that by way of a tale out of school but to indicate how focused he is and to compliment him, not only as has been done here but on bringing together many like minded states at a critical moment in the discussions on the Convention. Many of the like minded states are candidate countries. My limited experience of dealing with representatives of candidate countries was at the discussions on the Charter on Fundamental Rights a few years ago and I noticed that because they were outside the loop they were more intent on being on-side. The Minister of State's initiatives stiffened the resolve and gave them a little spine in that they had a positive contribution to make to ensure the interest of like minded states was protected. It is important to record that is one of the legacies on which the Minister of State can look proudly during this experience.