John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I am sharing time with Senator Fiona O'Malley, with the permission of the House.

There is a great temptation to address my remarks to those Senators who remain uncommitted, but of course I have a duty to address the House.

The reality is that there is widespread belief among the general public that Europe has been very positive for Ireland. So it has, from the simple matter of allowing us to trade within a community of 500 million, providing €40 billion in direct agricultural aid, €50 billion in Structural Funds and so on. The amounts of funding, the supports and the benefits we have derived from European social policies such as the implementation of laws as regards pregnancy rights, time off at work, job sharing etc. all add up to a very positive experience. In fairness to many on the "No" side, they are also in agreement on Europe. The reality is that a grouping of 27 states needs to have a treaty in operation that is compatible with the work it is doing.

I remember the last campaign. Unfortunately there was an element of obfuscation on the "No" side to try to elude the real issues. They tended to ask a question without waiting for the answer and when they got it they asked another and then tried to muddy the waters further by suggesting that if the problem was not the question of the right to life, it had to do with taxation and if not that, then it was neutrality. If it was not neutrality, then there was some hidden codicil within the treaty which meant we would never have another treaty. That was the worst end of the "No" campaign.

The Irish electorate has spoken, however, and the indications are there were many different reasons why people voted "No". Perhaps some of those involved dissatisfaction with certain aspects of Government policy. People were dissatisfied over issues that were not clear and the way the Government and Opposition parties had presented Lisbon. We need now to win over a majority of those very people who voted "No" the last time. Do they not see that, deliberately or inadvertently, they have ensured that we have kept our Commissioner, that we have got from Europe a protocol in guarantees which will be registered as a legally binding treaty with the United Nations and that this protocol refers to the previous treaties, Amsterdam, Maastricht, Nice in succession? The protocol is there to protect our tax policy, the right to life and military neutrality. If I meet somebody who voted "No" the last time, there is a wonderful opportunity to tell him or her, that whether it was intentional or not we have now achieved something very significant. We have a written protocol that addresses all their anxieties and we have retained our Commissioner. There really can be no justifiable reason any longer that can logically indicate a person should not vote for the 28th Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Bill.

In the area of justice, co-operation and enhanced co-operation we must look to Europe more and more. With our international trade and the amount of cross-border traffic a good deal of international crime is going and coming through Ireland from abroad. In particular, even though we might focus on the crime families here in Ireland, at the end of the line these are expendable in deference to the real crime barons, many of whom reside on the "Costa del Crime" in Spain. We need better bilateral arrangements, probably through the Lisbon treaty. That would be the best arrangement by far, which all 27 member states of the EU will sign. If it is not the "Costa del Crime" it will be some other riviera on the Mediterranean where the crime lords will hang out. Should the Criminal Assets Bureau, which has done excellent work, or the Garda go to make inquiries it will not be available to them in these states. However, with enhanced co-operation through the Lisbon treaty there will be no safe place for criminals to hide. That, allied with all the other positive undertakings we are about to get from the protocol, indicates to me that those who vote "No" could be told, having outlined the main objections from the last occasion, that every question has been answered. My anxiety is that is no matter what question we answer for some people, it will not suffice because they have been against every European treaty and advance for the last 30 years and that will not change. Notwithstanding that there are a few people who think like that, the vast majority are very objective, rational and consider very carefully how they vote. It is to those people we must turn our attention and say we have achieved something very positive from the "No" vote but we now need a "Yes" vote for Lisbon.