Derek McDowell (Labour)

I join with others in welcoming Ms Scallon to the House. I suspect I would not agree with many of the views she has expressed but there are many thousands of people who do and it is good that their views find reflection in the European Parliament. I wish to take her up on the two issues on which she concentrated, that of the European project and the issue raised by Senator Henry.

I have a difficulty in pinning down the views expressed by Ms Scallon on the current standing of the European project. She says she is in favour of the project and, specifically, of more co-decision, which inevitably detracts from some notions of national sovereignty, yet she is very resistant to the notion of repeating in the constitution of Europe something that has been part of European law for many decades, namely, the notion that European directives pertaining to European competences take precedence over national constitutions and laws. Forgive me if I am wrong, but she seems to support the project, yet she is pushing all the buttons the sceptics and cynics push. Maybe she is doing this for electoral reasons and knows well what she is doing, but it seems there is a contradiction. Will she explore this further?

I do not claim any medical or scientific expertise on the issue mentioned by Senator Henry. However, it seems Ms Scallon's argument is diametrically opposed to the notion of in vitro fertilisation in the first instance. While many in this country do not understand or have not engaged with the issue of stem cell research, adult or embryonic, they do have some knowledge of in vitro fertilisation. Will Ms Scallon address this?

I am not a constitutional lawyer but do not believe we should accept that it is generally thought that the unimplanted egg has constitutional protection and that it is necessarily illegal to perform research in this field in Ireland. I would not be willing to accept it as a given because it is not.