Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Members of the House for their generosity. I also thank the Members of both Houses for the exceptionally positive role played by politicians from all the major political parties in the success of the Irish Presidency. I unreservedly thank the diplomats and the senior and junior civil servants who played such an extraordinary role. I have never been so proud to be Irish as I was on the night we brought the constitutional treaty home. When the Irish Presidency began on 1 January 2004, things looked bleak. It looked as if there had been a disaster. The humour during the course of the European Council meeting in December was disastrous and negative. It was worse than not producing the treaty. It seemed as if irreparable damage had been done. I agree absolutely with Senator Ryan that we should celebrate those things that as a nation we do well. We carry a post-colonial chip on our shoulder and we find it difficult to celebrate our successes. We are a remarkable nation. We should not delude ourselves and suggest we are perfect; we are far from perfection——