Michael Brennan (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the MEPs and thank them for their attendance at this crucial debate. Ireland has played a role at the heart of Europe's affairs for more than 50 years and the EU has benefitted from that role. We should not tamper lightly with this relationship and must ensure there is informed and debated decision making. I welcome the contributions of other Members and guests which expand on several provisions of the proposed constitution.

However, I wish to focus on one issue, namely, the question of where power lies. For Irish people, EU affairs and referenda are often a question of whether we are ceding too much authority to the Union. Although referenda procedures and protocols generally deal with more specific topics, the debate is often reduced to this issue. The reasons for this concentration on what some might see as a minor issue are numerous. For many Irish people, this is a fundamental matter. As a nation we retain the memory of a struggle for independence and subsequent development on the international stage. We are in the main strongly attached to our Constitution, institutions and system of administration.

Each of us, whether representatives of the Oireachtas or the EU, must be able to counter the claims, whether rational or otherwise, that the new constitution means giving up too much power to Brussels and that it will replace our own Constitution. We must refute the notion that a ratification of the EU constitution means Ireland will no longer decide how its own people want to live. To this end, there must be an emphasis on what the proposed EU constitution does and does not do.

Three issues are crucial in this regard. First, people should be reminded that constitutions exist to limit the power of the state or the EU to encroach on citizens' rights. Second, we must inform citizens that the proposed constitution affirms that the Union is a subsidiary to member states. The EU may act only in those areas where the objectives of the intended action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states but can rather be better achieved at Union level. The constitution establishes the principle that the Union derives its power from its member states. It does not represent the ceding of more power but rather prevents the Union from encroaching on the rights of member states other than in those areas in which they have been voluntarily ceded.

Third, citizens are concerned about the EU having, for the first time, a legal personality under the proposed constitution. This concern is heightened by the statements of some parties that EU laws will trump all those of national Parliaments including the Oireachtas. Particular reference is made to the statement, "The constitution and law adopted by the Union's institutions in exercising competences conferred on it shall have primacy over the law of the member states". Citizens must be reassured that this provision merely conforms the status quo. If the EU is allowed to legislate in the area of policy, its laws will overtake any national laws but only where we have allowed it to do so. In areas where the EU does not legislate, Irish law prevails. This has always been the case and we must ensure it remains so. There will be some who try to confuse and frustrate on this matter and we have a duty to inform and explain so that scaremongering and lies do not gain status in this important debate.