Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He is almost becoming part of the furniture at this stage. The report before us is important and I concur with what all previous speakers said about the perceived democratic deficit at political level in Brussels. When we lecture Brussels about a democratic deficit, we could look at little closer to home and at our system of Cabinet Government, at the fact the views of Dáil and Seanad Members are ignored on many occasions, at the managerial system of government at local government level and at the fact local public representatives are ignored. We could discuss the above if we were so taxed about the democratic deficit.

The provisions in the Lisbon treaty for stronger and additional powers for the European Parliament and national parliaments are a step in the right direction. I welcome the publication of this report and congratulate Deputy Perry and his colleagues on their work, as Senator Ormonde did. I was a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Scrutiny in the last Dáil, as was Senator Ormonde, and every other Thursday morning we met at 9.30 a.m. and for an hour to two hours we went through a huge volume of work on EU policies. The deficiency we faced was that much of the work we did was retrospective and there was little opportunity to influence what was being decided and debated in Brussels. As a result of the proposal in the Lisbon treaty, as the Minister of State outlined and as all reasonable colleagues here and elsewhere would acknowledge, the role of the national parliament is now greatly enhanced. Deputies, Senators and all public representatives will now have a much greater say in what is being decided in Brussels. The additional check available to national parliaments is a further guarantee that the policies of Brussels will only be pursued after full consultation with the national parliaments.

I also welcome the additional powers being given to the Members of the European Parliament. People will no longer be able to claim the European Parliament is a political talking shop. It will be a chamber with real political power which is what democracy should be about and which I very much welcome.

The question of transparency in Brussels is being significantly addressed. It is a major step forward. If we look at the transcripts of previous debates on Europe, a significant criticism among people who were traditionally anti-Europe was the so-called "democratic deficit" but that has been substantially addressed. The EU scrutiny committee will be of significant benefit to the people.

I refer to what a number of previous speakers said about the change in the number of Commissioners and the loss of the Irish Commissioner for five out of every 15 years. I concur with what the Minister of State and all reasonable people have said. Every country, whether Germany, Malta, Ireland or the UK, will work under the same rules. They are fair, balanced and workable. There was much outcry on this side of the House and elsewhere following the creation of additional Minister of State posts. We must accept that one cannot continue to grow government and the number of Commissioner forever. There must be some balance and this strikes a fair one.

My final point relates to the question of what will happen if Ireland votes "No". We must acknowledge that the world will not end. I was at a meeting on Tuesday when this question was asked of the former Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald. He responded by saying that there is one word which is so crucial to Ireland's place and role in Europe and that is "goodwill". He highlighted his term as Taoiseach where significant advantages were gained by Ireland and he instanced the milk quota, the European Social Fund proposals and education funding. He said Ireland achieved that by the goodwill it had built up in Europe. That is what is at issue this day week.

Let us retain our goodwill, which is worth 1,000 vetoes. We have made huge progress because we are recognised as a country which wants to be at the heart of Europe. We have built up enormous goodwill. I am not saying it is at risk next Thursday but I hope we will continue to fly the flag of goodwill and ensure Ireland continues to play a significant and leading role in Europe by voting "Yes". This report is one of the many reasons Ireland's interests are best served by the people voting "Yes" on Thursday next.