Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. As a europhile, I welcome the political agreement but maintain a natural caution. During the referendum on the Lisbon treaty, I likened the difficulty in that regard to the difficulty of getting 17 members of one's family to sit down together and agree arrangements for a meal. It is an extraordinary achievement that we have got this far. I welcome it as evidence that we are keen to solve the problem but have not solved it yet.

I urge Government to persist with communication at this stage. The confusion in the public domain is alarming. It is difficult for people to understand this. I suspect it is difficult for Governments and experts to understand because we do not really know what is going on most of the time. The Government must at least attempt to communicate with the people, even when it does not know what is happening. It must continue to communicate with people because that dialogue will become increasingly important. Like my colleague, Senator Bacik, I believe a referendum would give people a stake in our future and the capacity to be part of that debate. Without genuine and analysed communication in the period prior to a potential referendum we will fall foul of the hysteria that may arise at that point.

The term "European social model" appears to have been lost amid all the crisis and talk of fiscal-this and financial-that. I remind Members that the treaty of the European Community sets out several social objectives, including the promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions, proper social protection dialogue between management and labour, the development of human resources with a view to lasting and high employment and combatting exclusion. At this time, when we are concerned about markets and their behaviour, we have forgotten what we have in Europe and the reason we came together, namely, to bind Europe together to achieve high living standards and good working conditions. I urge that the Government, in its communication with the public, not forget that this is what we came together to achieve.