Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I welcome the Bill. The Council of Europe is probably the oldest post-Second World War European institution, along with the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation. Ireland has been a member of the council since the beginning, unlike the European Union, which we joined somewhat later. Although the European Union has expanded and enlarged it by no means covers the whole of Europe. Apart from countries such as Bulgaria and Romania which should join in two or three years time, there are also the Balkans and many former states from central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, some of which are in the news today.

I wonder why we are joining the bank at this late stage and I have some reservations about dealing with the legislation only at the moment when the time limit expires. We should give higher priority to our international obligations and deal with them in a timely manner. In this case there is no real matter of controversy that needs to be debated at length but it is regrettable that we are discussing this only 48 hours before the deadline expires. There are several reasons we might not have joined earlier, one of which is possibly the previous name of the bank which was the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund for National Refugees and Overpopulation in Europe. We might have had problems signing up to a concept of overpopulation in Europe but the name was changed in 1999.

The name was unfortunate but the real reason was that it required a significant financial contribution and we will be contributing €13 million. In the past we have been somewhat reluctant to subscribe to some of these organisations. We should have joined this bank long ago rather than so belatedly. The argument would be that we did not have enough money or it did not have sufficient priority. At an earlier stage of our membership of the European Union we benefited from loans from the European Investment Bank for different capital products. That does not have the same degree of importance for us now that we can fund most of our capital spending ourselves. It is important for these countries to be able to get money for essential social infrastructure and emergency relief at reasonable and competitive interest rates which might not otherwise be available to them.

Previous speakers have covered the ground well on projects recently supported by the bank. Approximately €2 billion was approved in loans last year. The bank serves a useful purpose. It will be a matter of considerable importance that we do not have a kind of Iron Curtain or fortress Europe in a political or economic sense. We will have to pay attention to the problems of countries that are outside and that will perhaps remain outside the European Union. We must not put them at an unacceptable disadvantage and this Bill is a contribution to that aim.

Europe has no interest in having political or economic instability nor untoward movements of population just beyond its borders. As Europe enlarges, its area of responsibility will also expand. I do not just mean the area within the European Union, but also its neighbouring countries. Ireland is at the western periphery of Europe, while most of the countries that are beneficiaries of this are in the south-eastern end of Europe. Some of these countries will become members, such as Bulgaria, Romania and perhaps even Turkey. I hope that it will happen in the future, when conditions are right. I do not accept the alternative version of fortress Europe that is based on the idea that as we are a Christian civilisation and Turkey is mainly a Muslim country, it does not fit in. We must have a truly pluralist view of the European Union without in any way underplaying its mainly Christian roots.

In theory at any rate, Ireland is eligible for loans under this Bill. In practice, we do not have difficulties obtaining finance for worthwhile infrastructural and social projects, nor for things like flood relief. We are therefore unlikely to avail of funds from the bank. As a display of solidarity with the rest of Europe, I warmly support this Bill. My only criticism is that it is long overdue.