Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The acting leader of the Opposition, Senator Mooney, mentioned the leaking of documents. The document that was leaked yesterday from the German parliamentary committee is a European Commission staff report and not an Irish document. All of the key documents related to the Irish programme were published on the website of the Department of Finance on 14 February. These include the letter of intent and the accompanying documents such as the memorandum of understanding and the economic and financial policies. The leaked document was a report that was being discussed by European Union officials. It is not an important programme document. The leaking of this document is not an issue of concern for the Government. Following a decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court, the German Government and the relevant parliamentary committee of the German Parliament must be circulated with official programme documentation. Everybody is aware of that. The Government is working hard, as everybody realises, to exit from the programme of assistance so that there will no longer be a requirement for the circulation of such information. In order to exit the programme, we will be strongly urging a "Yes" vote in the forthcoming referendum.

We have had a lot of discussion of Fianna Fáil's position on the referendum. I am taking the leader of Fianna Fáil and the leader of the party in this House totally at their word that Fianna Fáil is fully behind this referendum. It is an important referendum for our country, and I would expect nothing less from Fianna Fáil. I welcome the comments of Fianna Fáil Members on this issue.