Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, to the House and want to be associated with what was said earlier about his personal contribution to the campaign. It should be appreciated and acknowledged.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights is seen by the Irish trade union movement as the prize in the Lisbon treaty. Three years ago when the then Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, was negotiating the treaty, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions made strong representations that the Charter of Fundamental Rights should form part of a future treaty. It was not acceptable at the time in Europe and the Government was not very enthusiastic about it either. Through a series of negotiations, the trade union movement made it clear to the Minister for Foreign Affairs that it saw no prospect of a treaty being adopted by the people without the Charter of Fundamental Rights being incorporated in it.

John Monks, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, was disgusted to find that he was presented in Ireland as being opposed to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. He shares my view, and that of the leadership of the Irish trade union movement, that the charter must be part of the treaty.

The charter brings to bear certain rights such as the freedom to join and form a trade union and be represented by one. What bothers me is that people believe this is not really a matter of concern. I remember in 1972 my wife had to resign — effectively she was sacked — as a teacher in a Dublin secondary school when we got married. It could not have happened two years later when Ireland joined the EEC. Every significant advance in workers' and women's rights has come from Europe. Those canvassing on doorsteps must point out this out to people.

Some of my colleagues with strong pro-church views would be well advised to read the charter. On the Order of Business this morning, I referred to a recent statutory instrument that provides for the Church of Ireland College of Education to ensure a quota of people from its own cultural background is available to it. The way we are dealing with it does not make me jump up and down with delight. However, I have no problem with a denomination maintaining its numbers.

Article 14.3 of the charter — which a well-known Irish commentator claimed is very difficult to read and understand — states:

The freedom to found educational establishments with due respect for democratic principles and the right of parents to ensure the education and teaching of their children in conformity with their religious, philosophical and pedagogical convictions shall berespected . . .

One wonders if those opposed to treaty on right-wing religious grounds have even read this article. Are they aware of this simple commitment to people's rights in this document? Contrarians — those opposed to the treaty for the sake of it and with whom I also share these benches — should be required to give an intellectual basis to their arguments against the treaty and the charter. The rights enshrined in the charter are important to many. Some Members may have exploited and survived the education system and the establishment. However, many people depend on this charter to have their rights articulated.

Article 20 states in the simplest terms, "Everyone is equal before the law." It goes on to say that any discrimination based on the grounds of race, sex, colour, ethnic origins, etc., is not allowed. The Minister of State might have been present in the House when on one occasion in the past 12 years, Senator Shane Ross tabled a Private Members' motion which I seconded, in an attempt to outlaw capital punishment in this country. People read this and think it is like the Middle Ages but these are matters we dealt with in the past ten or 15 years. The EU charter will be a protection for people in other countries where capital punishment is still legal. This charter is about protecting people and about advancing human rights, issues which no rational person would oppose.

The charter aims to develop cultural, linguistic and religious diversity. Táimid ag caint mar gheall ar dhaoine a thagann ó Ghaeltacht bheag ar imeall na hEorpa, mar shampla. Sa Nice treaty, tugadh stádas agus gradam nua don Ghaeilge. Bhí seans ann go nainmeofar an Ghaeilge mar cheann de theangacha oifigiúla na hEorpa. Dúradh go mbeadh fostaíocht i gceist do mhuintir na nGaeltachtaí agus daoine le Gaeilge sa Bhruiséil agus timpeall na hEorpa as translators or whatever. It has given a status to the Irish language which was never there before. We were fighting for it here over the years; we fought for it and spoke for it before the Nice treaty was being discussed. Tá sé againn anois. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go bhfuil sé mar phointe lárnach d'aon díospóireacht atá againn mar gheall ar an Ghaeilge sa chonradh.

I refer to that latter point and the issue of diversity and language because I want to recall that every time we have discussed the advancement of the European project, I have listened to people talk about how Irish culture would be lost, buried, choked, drowned or whatever, in the broader European culture, but this has not happened, it will not happen and on the basis of this charter, it cannot happen. The Community has a respect, recognition and a sacred place for diversity and cultural values, for languages, etc.

I come from the Gaeltacht and I spent my whole working career either as an educationalist, a trade unionist or a public representative. As an educationalist I struggled to get education included in the treaties. It was not allowed in the Treaty of Rome but was included in one of the later treaties. I made a recommendation to two Irish European Commissioners in order to have the matter advanced. As a trade unionist I fought for the rights that are contained in this charter. As a public representative I regularly criticised the fact that the elected strata in Europe did not have sufficient input or influence, to coin a phrase, I spoke with sadness about the democratic deficit. The democratic deficit has been significantly narrowed. This brings us to a far more democratic Europe than what was there previously. This should be said loudly and everywhere.

People have asked what happens if the treaty is rejected. They are afraid of the obvious. Nobody wants to say we can come back with Lisbon 2. I do not know whether it will be possible to come back with Lisbon 2 but I know for certain that with the change of government to the right in Italy and in a few other places, there is not the remotest chance, from the perspective of the left, that a revised treaty would contain the attractions that are in this treaty now. I will certainly support it.