Shane Ross (Independent)

I agree with what Senator Leyden said in at least one respect, namely, his remark that the 12.5% tax rate is worthy of a debate in this House. The Cathaoirleach interrupted him to say that this could be raised in the debate on the Lisbon treaty. It has nothing to do with the treaty. I know it probably will be part of that debate but the danger is that it will become a red herring and a reason why people will vote "yes" or "no" when it is not relevant.

We should realise how vital this is. I ask the Leader to address this subject in his reply. I would have thought that if we were going to invite the Minister for Foreign Affairs here, the first thing we might ask him to do is to call in the French ambassador and tell him that we will not have any truck with this sort of continuous threat from the French Government, be it the current French Minister of Finance or anyone else. There are three reasons why he should come to the House in the next few days. The French are constantly waging this kind of guerilla warfare against Ireland's tax rate and we want to make it absolutely plain that under no circumstances will we concede it and that they are wasting their time. It is obvious that there is an ongoing campaign and that the French will try in other ways to force us to concede this. It may be an attack on agriculture or somewhere else but as an economy, we cannot afford to give in on this issue. In the newspapers this morning, Ms Lagarde said that she had not met any Irish people who were afraid of anything in her plan. It would be quite useful to her if the message went out that at least this House is unanimously opposed to her plan.