Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Senator Ross will also speak about them if he gets a chance. It seemed there were concerns about family law. Regardless of whether that was a question of same-sex marriage, abortion or euthanasia, I am convinced now that it does not come into question, the treaty has nothing to do with it and they are protected.

The second area was tax about which I was very concerned. One sees Germany with a 38% corporation tax rate and us with a 12.5% rate and the word is that Mr. Frederick Forsyth states today that the Europeans were looking not for harmonisation but for standardisation. In other words, they were looking to make us all the same. I would be quite concerned if that were the case but I have been convinced that it is not threatened.

The third area was the issues of neutrality and defence. I would be happier to be part of a defence pact where we were involved so that if there was a mutual defence, we would be protected by our colleagues in Europe.

The last area was the loss of a Commissioner. It seemed a tough one to decide on, but if the Germans who have a much larger population are giving up the same amount of Commission membership time as us and the other countries are doing so as well, it seems this area also is protected.

I asked everybody on the "No" side with whom I argued how they voted in previous referenda on Europe since 1972 and the majority have always voted "No". They stated they were strongly European but that this particular treaty is just a step too far. If they had voted "No" on the previous occasions, it seems quite likely that if they had had their way, we would not have had the success we have experienced for the past 35 years. That was one of the most influential areas. It convinced me that the success of Ireland over the past 35 years has been influenced to a large extent by the decisions of the Irish people to support the changes in the European Union. In this case, I am happy to do the same and support it with a "Yes" vote.