Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. In the spirit of setting the record straight, particularly with the issue of the referendum, a high level European official was recently reported as saying the treaty had been specifically crafted to minimise the prospect of a referendum in Ireland. At a recent meeting of the European affairs committee, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, said in response to a question from me that Ireland, in common with a number of other member states, sought to have the term "preferably" included in the text of the draft treaty. Last week, the Taoiseach is reported as denying that the Government negotiated to avoid a referendum. Will the Minister of State advise on which version is accurate? Does she believe that seeking the term "preferably" could be seen as negotiating to avoid a referendum?

Reference has been made today to last week's meeting of the European affairs committee, at which Mr. Karl Whelan and other experts presented. The Minister of State mentioned that most of what is contained in the treaty is already in existence within the EU. Last week Mr. Whelan stated that the economics of this treaty are pretty terrible, although he believes that Ireland must sign up to the treaty because of the link to the European Stability Mechanism. He believes the treaty is significant because it is more constraining than anything in existence in EU law, and he referred particularly to the six-pack. He noted that one of the key differences is that it will be brought into permanent and binding law where, for example, the six-pack was not. His view is that once the treaty is passed, it will be extremely difficult to change it, whereas the six-pack, for example, could have been revisited in future. That could have happened if there was a realisation that some of the measures did not work. What is the Minister of State's opinion on the treaty's inflexibility?