John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to the House. I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Roche, for his attendance because it was extremely difficult for him, given the programme being undertaken during the Presidency by the Government, to find enough time to outline the outcome of the Council to the House. We should register our appreciation to him and acknowledge the work being done by the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, other members of the Government and the officials who give them the necessary back up to ensure the Presidency is successful.

Last Thursday the Taoiseach gave a tour de force overview of the Council meeting when he spoke at the Forum on Europe in Croke Park. There was a long question and answer session and one could not but be impressed by the Taoiseach's intimate knowledge of the issues without referring to notes. The Council addressed a number of issues, the first of which was the constitutional treaty. It is good that progress is being made in this area and congratulations are due to those involved. A negative message would have been sent to the accession states if the adoption of the constitution were to drag on for a long time and it is good that the hope is it will be concluded by 1 June. Each member state has outstanding issues but a consensus is emerging regarding the need to reach agreement.

The Taoiseach referred to the issue of qualified majority voting last Thursday. There will be a combination of a member state's votes in terms of population and its votes within the Commission. There will be a debate on the balance involved but that is the way the issue is going and the Taoiseach is firmly committed to such an arrangement, which is welcome.

Taxation and how it will be dealt with is a serious and important issue from Ireland's point of view. We still should be able to exercise control over our own taxation affairs because together with social partnership that has been central to creating the economic success we have experienced in the recent past. This is the critical issue from a domestic point of view.

A view is also emerging that each member state should have a commissioner and that is welcome. While there is a debate about the reduction in the size of the Commission, how will it physically deal with 25 member states if it is small? It is important that the Commission should examine what is happening on the ground in member states. It is not desirable that the Commission should be so small that it finds it impossible to do its work and to visit member states. That is why each member state should have at least one commissioner and should have an equal voice at the table, irrespective of size. That is a critical issue.

The Taoiseach also referred to representation in the European Parliament and the minimum threshold that will apply. When the Union was formed, a base level of five was decided. In other words, every member state started with five members. There must be a system of that nature whereby the smaller countries have a base level below which they do not fall. If one were to use a crude population measure to decide representation, the smaller countries would have little representation, which would be undesirable from a democratic point of view.

The issue of terrorism is uppermost in all our minds, given what happened in Spain and the appalling loss of life following the train bombings. Our sympathy went out to the Spanish Government and people. It was good that Heads of State attended the memorial service in Spain to commemorate those who died and a declaration was produced at the Council on combating terrorism. While the declaration is aspirational and good, I am not sure about the practical measures that arise from it. In other words, real practical measures on the ground to combat terrorism are not much in evidence in the declaration. It is obvious that the only way to combat terrorism is through a European approach to sharing intelligence through greater co-operation between police forces. Notwithstanding the fact that the United Kingdom and Ireland are not a party to the Schengen Agreement, it would be wrong for all the national agencies to operate in isolation given that once a person enters the border of the EU he or she is effectively in one common country. That would not be a very strong basis on which to combat terrorism. A degree of detachment from these issues is evident, as people feel that Ireland should not participate in some of these pan-European forces, whether it be military or police forces or intelligence gathering services. That would change fundamentally in the unfortunate event of an incident occurring here. Obviously we hope that would never happen, but the public would expect Europe to intervene, which would be a dramatic change. Solidarity must be shown not just in regard to natural disasters, but in response to terrorism and intelligence gathering and that is the only way to deal with these issues on a European-wide basis.

The Lisbon Agenda has been debated this afternoon. I was very impressed by the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Roche's radio interview on this issue. He was explicit that it was vital that Ireland would move beyond the talks stage to the point where the European Union was acting on the Lisbon agenda. He stated very forcibly the responsibility of Ireland to ensure the necessary legislation was put in place to support the war on terrorism. He is to be commended for that. Senator Quinn is correct. The forecast for growth in GNP in Europe this year is of the order of 1.7%, which is very far short of the forecast growth in the United States. Rather than closing, the gap is widening and Europe is lagging behind the US, which has serious consequences for Europe and the achievement of the objective of the Lisbon Agenda, namely social cohesion. It is through creating a knowledge-based economy and competitiveness that we arrive at the point where we achieve the desired social cohesion. The evidence of the Irish domestic experience suggests that can be done.

Europe is still paying for German unification. I remember a German Minister stating to the Institute of European Affairs at the start of the unification process that it would not affect German growth as it had the resources in the economy to finance unification. I queried it at the time but it has turned out that German and European growth has been seriously affected by the unification of Germany, but it has been well worth paying that price. Nobody would suggest that Germany should not have been unified. A separate question, however, was whether the value given to the Ostmark against the Deutschmark was realistic, although I fully appreciate there was a political dimension to that decision.

It is essential that we go beyond the talks stage on the Lisbon Agenda. One of the difficulties is that it is very diffuse. When we had the discipline under convergence, before the Single Market, there were very specific targets for economic performance in terms of the debt to GDP ratio, inflation and so on. The targets were a barometer of performance relative to the strategy. In this case it is much more diffuse and many more disciplines are involved. That was part of the problem because it is very difficult to focus on precise parameters by which progress can be judged.

One of the main areas that requires progress is the question of research and development. When we discussed competitiveness in the Seanad, I referred to an article in the past few months on the brain drain in Time. The reasons that some of the best people in research are leaving Europe and going to the United States are twofold, first, the level of resources for their research, particularly in the sciences and second, the salaries. Several stated quite openly that it would be difficult to imagine returning home to Italy or France given what was available to them in the United States. That is a major drain on the ability of Europe to compete. However, the Irish experience was given as an example of one of the more successful approaches to research and development.

It will be a marvellous occasion on 1 May to welcome the accession states to the Union. The vision of the founding father, Schuman, and Spaak and Adenauer and Monet when they launched the initiative arising from the devastation of the Second World War and their determination that it would never happen again will be realised. I doubt if they could have imagined a unified Europe from the Atlantic to the Balkans. The enduring success of the project is the longest continuous period of peace since the Second World War, notwithstanding what is happening in Kosovo and other areas. Senator Bradford correctly stated that some protesters from anti-globalisation and reclaim the streets groups have an extreme left wing perspective with no democratic mandate. The protest outside the Dáil against the US military aircraft flying through Shannon gave a taste of their aggressiveness. One lady who wished to protest peacefully wrote to me in great distress because she had been swept aside by these people and when she spoke out against the way they were protesting, she was harangued by people half her age, which was a measure of their lack of commitment to democracy.

The events in Palestine and Israel are very distressing, the assassination of Sheikh Yassin and the abhorrent image of a young boy being used as a suicide bomber. The Taoiseach and the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, have reiterated our commitment to the quartet road map for peace and I accept it is the way forward and is the only show in town. I am encouraged by Deputy Roche's reference to the need for two sovereign independent states based on the 1967 borders. It will require a major effort by all concerned in Europe to try to make progress in that area in general. The European politicians and Foreign Ministers must be applauded for their commitment in this area but it will require dedication to bring it forward. It is disappointing to see more walls and settlements being built on hillsides. This is a direct provocation of the Palestinian people.

We welcome wholeheartedly the accession of the prospective member states. Hopefully, Cyprus will be among them in the sense that the entire island will accede on 1 May. While that has yet to be determined, it will be a good day for Europe as well as for Ireland. We have a great deal to bring to the party. Several of the accession states can identify with us as readily as with any other EU member given the way in which we used the opportunity afforded to us by membership to improve our economy, living standards and ethos. We made the transition from an inward to an outward looking society. Ireland is no longer solely obsessed with what is happening on the neighbouring island; it looks beyond that to Europe. As a small country, our experience can provide a valuable example to accession states in achieving their goals and objectives.