Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the decision of our sister body in the Czech Republic, the Czech Senate or haute chambre, to approve the Lisbon treaty. It leaves Ireland as the odd man out in Europe regarding Lisbon. In connection with this, Mr. Lech Walesa was invited to speak at the recent conference of Libertas in Rome, and allegedly, according to The Irish Times and the Polish press, was paid €50,000 by Libertas. We were led to believe he was lending his support to that organisation. That subterfuge has been exposed by the Polish media. The case also shows something about the organisation and it has, in this instance, lost all credibility.

The son of Mr. Walesa, who is a candidate in the Polish elections, said his father disagrees with Libertas, its opinion and how it works, but he understood it exists. That is a complete denial and refutation of what we were led to believe, namely, that this was an endorsement of that organisation by Mr. Walesa, and the House should take note of that.

In being the odd man out in Europe on Lisbon, we are also the odd man out in Europe on the economy and it is interesting how time flies. It is one year since Deputy Brian Cowen became Taoiseach and this is one of the legacies of his stewardship over that year. Unemployment has doubled, we have the largest drop in GNP in Europe and we have doubled our national debt. One of the commitments of the Government and the Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen, who was the then Minister for Finance, before the last election was to make Ireland debt-free.