Don Lydon (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I sincerely believe that he is the only person, and I include the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing, all the civil servants and everyone else in the whole Union in this, who reads all the documentation on the Lisbon Agenda, the enlargement process and the new constitution. Credit where credit is due and we owe a debt of gratitude to the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the civil servants and the Minister of State. Even securing agreement on the candidate for the post of Commission President was a remarkable achievement and we all look forward to working with José Manuel Durão Barroso if he is confirmed in his post.

The word "constitution" is unfortunate in that it is liable to conjure up ideas of a superpower state where until now we had an association of states. We should not be afraid in this regard. Article 1.5 states that the constitution will have primacy over the laws of member states but this is nothing to fear because it does not happen in all cases.

The treaty establishing a constitution for Europe repeals all existing EU and EC treaties from the Treaty of Rome to the Treaty of Nice and incorporates their main elements into the new constitution. Some have criticised elements of this but it is a great idea. Anyone who has tried to plough his or her way through some of the treaties, such as Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice, will be pleased with the clarity of the text of the new constitution. It is a final treaty more than a constitution.

Should the constitution be ratified, competencies in the security, defence and foreign policy areas will be centralised in Brussels with a unified European approach. This will be a good development. Such an approach is important and I see nothing wrong with a European army or foreign, security and defence policy. More than being just an international power broker, however, the European Union should become a partner in solidarity for the cultural and economic development of the Third World.

It was a major disappointment to me that there was no mention of the indisputable Christian heritage of Europe. A few governments categorically opposed the mention of a specific Christian heritage. It is sad that those were precisely the countries where Christianity played an enormous part in shaping their cultures.

It is clear that an ideological prejudice motivated the opposition and the fear that an explicit mention of Christian heritage could make the European Union less acceptable to a Muslim country that might form part of it. This fear is unfounded as it is from Christianity that arises the principle of religious liberty and the clear distinction between religious and political spheres that allows for peaceful co-existence between different religions within one political organisation.

Even the mention of God was excluded. It is ironic that 25 Heads of State agreed to this constitution without one reference to God on 18 June, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a decision that will come back to haunt us. There are, however, positive elements in the text that must be noted and applauded. Those include safeguards for the status of churches in member states, recognition of the identities of churches and their contribution and promises of open and regular dialogue. I am glad that an article in the constitution mentions the right to life of all. I wonder does this include the right to life as protected by article 40.3.3° of the Constitution and the protocol appended to the Amsterdam treaty to protect it.

The enlargement process involved 450 million people, a mind boggling number. It is wonderful to be able to travel so widely and use the same currency. The former Yugoslav Republics of Macedonia and Croatia have both applied for membership. People can call it an empire if they want. It is multilingual, multicultural and multiracial but it is all European, from the Urals to the Twelve Pins, a wonderful grand design for working together and healing disputes with rational argument and discussion rather than fighting, as was the case in the past.

The work on the Lisbon Agenda was incredible. The two new elements of the financial services action plan, the financial instruments market directive and the transparency directive, were completed and other directives were agreed on take over bids and intellectual property rights, something we do not respect in Ireland. There was agreement on infrastructure, the trans-European networks for transport and the second railway packet. All these efforts help to make this huge organisation work.

There is a new directive on terrorism and we have adopted a directive on compensation to crime victims. There is an agreed approach on the mutual recognition of confiscation orders, re-establishment of the counter-terrorism task force under Europol and substantial progress was made towards the establishment of a European borders agency.

All in all, a great job was done and I congratulate everyone involved. This constitution will give us global status, recognition as Europeans and a strong position in negotiations for world trade agreements and at the UN. I hope that this will be used in a caring manner because we have great power to do good here. With so many people working and travelling together and benefiting from the education processes, this is a grand design.

There is a major job ahead — explaining this to the public and assuring them that the deal they are getting is a good one. No one will be pleased with everything but when the leaders of so many nations agree to so much, it is an incredible accomplishment. I am sure the Taoiseach did not do it all on his own but he was a great motivator for everyone else. He did a fantastic job, as did the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, and everyone who worked with them. I congratulate them all. I hope this grand design works out because it deserves our support.