Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I welcome the announcement yesterday of the date for the referendum on the fiscal treaty. I hope the House will be able to have a substantial debate on the pros and cons of the treaty as well as a debate on the referendum Bill. An unfortunate aspect of recent referendums on Europe has been the lecturing and hectoring we have had on both sides of the argument as we sought to force the electorate to make its decision by frightening it into accepting or rejecting the relevant proposals. On this occasion, the Government's aim must be to ensure every citizen is fully aware of the content of the treaty and sufficient information will be sent to each and every voter. We need a proactive and generous debate on the pros and cons of the treaty. At the end of that process, I believe Irish people will overwhelmingly decide that it is in the interests of the country to say "Yes". The Irish people will overwhelmingly decide that it is in the interests of the country that we should say "Yes".

Anybody living in the real world knows that there are difficulties in respect of the household charge and that lessons can be learned. We can learn a lesson as well from the way we do our work from a parliamentary perspective. My recollection of the debate in this House is that it was much too rushed, and this has been symptomatic of debates in both Houses. There are time limits put on Second Stage speeches and on Committee Stage, while amendments are being guillotined. If we want to take our job seriously and highlight problems before they become a crisis, we need to discuss them in these Houses. It is not good enough that Ministers come in here and attempt to ensure that the debate is shut down quickly. This should be a House of debate, and if it takes a day or a week to pass a Bill, that is what we are elected to do.