Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I support Senator Donohoe in respect of the request I made last week about a rolling debate on the EU reform treaty.

I take this opportunity to wish our troops every success in their mission in Chad. It is a dangerous mission but is under the control of the EU and supported by a UN resolution. There are 400,000 refugees in camps in eastern Chad, most of whom have fled from Darfur. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our courageous troops who are travelling there this evening. I wish them a safe journey and a safe return after fulfilling their mission. They will be leading a major deployment of Irish troops in that region.

A debate on the EU reform treaty would be very worthwhile at this very early stage. People talk about neutrality but that was clearly identified in the referendum in October 2002 when we inserted into the Constitution a clause which states that Ireland could not join a common European defence arrangement unless a specific and separate referendum was held. Unfortunately, a number of the anti-reform treaty personnel are bringing out these old arguments to try to defeat this treaty. This House would serve a great purpose by having a detailed debate about the proposal put forward by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs, which will outline our views after receiving a large number of submissions. That could be the basis for a debate in the House next week if possible.