Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

This decision will affect Aer Lingus as much as Ryanair because Aer Lingus has successfully managed itself as a State company to become a low cost operator. Therefore, yesterday's decision might not have the same knock-on effect around the world because Ryanair is fast becoming the largest airline in the world, and fair play to it. That decision will also affect Aer Lingus in a significant way. It is for that reason that we will take up this matter and carry it through. The state aid issue is important to this country.

Senator Ross also raised the matter of support for the EU. The difficulty in this respect lies with the member states and what is said in the media. I was aware of this last year when preparing for the Presidency. Every time there is a meeting, people, on leaving it, say they fought for their position and objected to other people's positions. We do that all the time. However, people should point out what the Union has achieved for the Continent, including for this country. Sometimes it worries me that people here - we are only talking about this country - believe we moved from being a country with below 60% of the average wealth of a European country to a well-educated, high-tech and sophisticated country on our own. An analysis of such growth would involve whether it was due to the Internal Market, free trade, etc.

How did this country become of one of the great exporters in the world? Is it because we stayed an isolationist state with a slightly open free market? It would be interesting to carry out an analysis of the number of jobs there would be in this economy today and what products we would be exporting if we had decided to take the Icelandic view, although that comparison is unfair to Iceland because it had many trade agreements. If we had not engaged, I would say the answer to the question I posed would be very little and we would not have been able to sustain those employed in our excellent public services. Our success, whether on equality issues, the social agenda, how we have advanced laws or how we managed to develop our successful sectors, is inherently because we are part of the European Union.

A somewhat academic exercise is engaged in by Euro sceptics here who probably would not have the education they have, not to mind anything else, if we were not part of the European model. I increasingly see this in debates in colleges and I continually remind people of the European project and what has been achieved. I am always conscious that given that we joined Union 30 years ago, one must be aged 45 plus to remember the pre-period. We seem to have perhaps only one student, from what I read in the newspapers, in that age category. This is an issue we need to keep to forefront of our minds.

All Senator McDowell said about Cyprus is true. We will meet the Cypriot Foreign Minister in Dublin Castle on Monday. I have talked at length to Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey. I have had consultations indirectly with Mr. Denktash. We totally support the Annan plan. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, has spoken about that also. I talked to Mr. Papadopoulos several times since Christmas. There is opportunity to secure a united Cyprus. I have told Prime Minister Erdogan bluntly that in my view it would be difficult for him to sustain his case to get Turkish membership brought forward to any conclusive position next December if we do not get to the position of having a united Cyprus. That is not the only issue people hold against Turkish membership; there are others. However, that argument would be used against Turkey. I have told him that face to face recently as well as his Foreign Minister. I do not want in six months' time to have to tell him something else. I thought it best to be honest with our Turkish colleagues. There is an opportunity to secure that and it will put pressure on Mr. Denktash and Mr. Papadopoulos.

This country has been engaged in dealing with Cypriot problems from the start in terms of the successful role we have played under the UN. I hope we can succeed, but it will be on the basis of the Annan plan, as there is no other plan. It is like the Good Friday Agreement; there is no other basis. We will have to see if people are serious. It is a question of making progress in the next few weeks.

Senator Norris raised the issue of the wall in Jerusalem. The Palestinian Prime Minister is coming to see me next week and we will engage further in this regard. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, has met all the people on the Israeli side. It will be difficult to make progress. I had a long telephone conversation last Sunday with President Arafat. It is a sorry scene. I am not sure how we will make progress on it, but we have to keep trying. This being an election year in the United States does not make the situation easy for obvious reasons, but we will have opportunities to raise this matter with President Bush and put pressure on to try to continue to follow the roadmap and make some meaningful progress on it because it is a sad situation.

We condemn all the bombs and the activities, but if every time there was violence in Northern Ireland we had made the decision to stop, do nothing and row back, we never would have had the Good Friday Agreement. That is not condoning violence in any form, but we have to make progress and make a leap of faith because if every time there was a violent act and one went back, one would end up with nothing very quickly. The best way is to try with those who are engaged genuinely in peace to move forward, but that will be difficult.

I thank Senator O'Rourke and Senator Dardis for what they said. Senator Dardis is correct that the European Union has transformed the political situation in Europe. It has given it prosperity but, more importantly, peace for the past 50 years. Enlargement gives us a new opportunity to go forward. I was thinking of the economy and I note what was said about enlargement and about farmers or business people. However, one should read the Official Report of the debate on free trade when this country, with a population of 3.1 million, had an opportunity to have a free trade agreement, which was restricted, to move our goods into the United Kingdom. People saw this as a huge opportunity which could transform and develop the country and which would give us a chance we never had before to reverse the terrible economic plight of the 1930s and the depression of the 1950s. Many Senators will remember the late 1950s, when we had our highest unemployment levels and huge deprivation in society.

Now we are part of an Internal Market and the next generation will have equal rules and opportunities to trade successfully with 500 million people. Those who were here then arguing the pro side of the Internal Market would wonder what people are talking about when they raise concerns. This is a huge opportunity for us which, as a small country, we should not fear. We have the capacity to be as innovative as anyone in the world, but our internal difficulties on the island held us back for decades and we did not have a market for which to produce goods. Now we are second to nobody in the Internal Market. The single currency, a market of 500 million people and modern technology which overcomes many of the impediments of past generations all mean we are in a very good position. The European model is not only important for this generation, but for generations to come.