Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I should have broken the bad news to Senator O'Toole in private. I note Senator Leyden's comments on the Lisbon treaty. Whatever about the implications for abortion, it probably will emerge in the course of our debate that the Government has not done enough to secure the primacy of Articles 40 to 44 of Bunreacht na hÉireann on a range of social matters. There is a problem with competence creep at European level, the latest example of which is Commissioner Vladimír Spidla's calling into question of Ireland's right to have exemptions in our employment equality legislation to allow institutions to protect their ethos. It is not fear of foreigners that causes people to be worried about the European project, but fear of diktat from Europe which should be properly matters of national competence. That matter will need to be debated as we approach the referendum on the Lisbon treaty.