Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I support Senator O'Brien's proposal that if a decision is taken and we must await the decision of the Attorney General about a referendum, the indications are that it is not something that can be decided overnight. It is a complex legal issue on which the Attorney General must give definite advice to the Government but if the Attorney General decides there is not a need for a referendum, I agree with the Senator's proposal that information should be made available to the public and a comprehensive campaign begun to get out that information.

An aspect we have forgotten is the contribution Europe has made to this country, for example, in the area of agriculture. It is interesting that there are a number of letters in the Irish Farmers Journal this week criticising various aspects of Europe but not taking into account the amount of money this country received under the Agriculture budget and the infrastructure put into this country as a result of that contribution from Europe. We seem to have forgotten that and it is about time we appreciated the benefits we got from Europe. When we joined the European Economic Community in 1973 1 million people were in employment. I accept that more than 400,000 people are seeking employment here now but we have increased the number of people working to 1.8 million. Europe is our marketplace. That is where we must grow in terms of the product range we have available for export. It is important that we also sell the positive message Europe is helping to create for this country and I would support such a campaign.