Shane Ross (Independent)

I want to respond to something Senator Regan said yesterday. He raised a serious issue in the context of remarks about the Taoiseach which were not relevant. Perhaps it would be appropriate for the House could discuss the new EU treaty at an early stage. It has nothing to do with the Taoiseach's suitability. Senator Regan's comments yesterday were based on the assumption that all parties in the House are in favour of passing the treaty, which may or may not be true. The EU is not treating Ireland very well at present. Some member states are continually trying to undermine the basis of Ireland's economic success — our corporation tax rate of 12.5%.

As Ireland is the only nation that will have a referendum on the treaty, we will have a hold over the EU during the referendum campaign. We are in a pivotal position in the European context because we are holding a referendum. Everybody in this House knows that the economic success of this country is being threatened by EU leaders, including the leaders of some of the big nations of Europe, who would like to remove the 12.5% rate. It is not satisfactory to say simply that the veto will do the trick, because they will go ahead without us. When the Taoiseach comes to the House, perhaps we can ask him to send an early warning to the EU not to take Ireland for granted, as Senator Regan said. I ask the Leader to respond to that proposal when he is summing up. If the EU wants to play hardball or dirty tricks with us, we can make it clear that we are prepared to defeat the treaty.