Fiach MacConghail (Independent)

I also welcome the Minister of State to the House and formally congratulate him on his recent elevation.

As a nominated Senator with no experience in EU politics or in the governance of our country, today is a day that I sometimes dread, a day in which I have to contribute to debates like this. It would be easy for me not to appear in the Chamber today, to excuse myself and hope there was no vote, and then try to make some kind of decision. However, as a Senator nominated by the Taoiseach, I have a responsibility to try to make sense for myself and for the community I represent, whether they are artists or whatever, on what we should do in respect of the fiscal compact treaty.

The language within the treaty itself is very clear and very understandable. Whether one disagrees with it or not is a separate issue. I will talk briefly in a minute about what Senator Zappone said about the second sentence of Part 2 of the Schedule, which is very obtuse in both Irish and English. As I read the treaty, I noticed that many of the rules in the fiscal compact treaty are already provided for in EU law. The provisions of the treaty do not alter a large part of what we are doing already in respect of the governance of our economy and our budgetary relationship. There are significant issues regarding the excessive deficit procedures, but we also know that countries which are subjected to an excessive deficit procedure have a three year transitional grace period before they have to conform to the provisions of the treaty. Therefore, Ireland would not be subject to the provisions of the existing treaty until three years after 2015, which brings us to 2018, so we have a period of time to assess this.

My colleague, Senator Ó Clochartaigh, was acting in a very conciliatory fashion. Although he might be voting "No", I thought some of his points were excellent and he was being consensual in his comments, unlike his previous Sinn Féin colleague. I listened with intent and tried to understand the reasons how he might vote on this. Austerity is not mentioned in the treaty, but emotionally we are looking at somehow legitimising the austerity budgets that are going to come before us over the next few years. That is a fact, although we should not scaremonger about that either.

I was interested to hear what Tom McDonnell of TASC said. We know that there is no consensus among economists - Senator Barrett is one - about how one might approach fiscal policy. My reading of the fiscal compact treaty is that it is quite an inflexible document. That is not a judgment call, more a description, and it does tie us in. The challenge I have is to decide which way to vote. Will I accept that this one-size-fits-all inflexibility will somehow support our country to manage itself out of this crisis?

The second issue is that we must be careful to realise that the fiscal compact treaty is not a panacea. It will not resolve all our issues. It will not resolve the problems facing our management of the euro and will not resolve other measures either. I have to come to terms with that as well. The idea of the debt brake superseding other economic considerations is problematic. It can prevent governments from borrowing to make investments that pay long-term dividends, such as in education or in the provision of general purpose technologies, unless the peripheral countries have the flexibility to borrow to close their infrastructure deficit relative to the eurozone core. This is something that TASC raised and it would be a concern of mine. There is an increased inflexibility within the inflexibility. In other words, if we sign up to this and if we agree that the fiscal compact treaty is the only way, then we also have to accept that there is a greater amount of inflexibility involved.

We owe it to our fellow citizens to say it quite clearly that the communication of this is important. I commend party leaders and the Tánaiste who came out quite clearly to support it on the front foot. That has to continue and, as Senator Zappone said, clarity is required in this Bill. I am a native speaker of Irish and there are many words in the Irish version of the treaty that I just do not understand. It is really important that we learn from the very recent experience, which is the experience of the previous two amendments to the Constitution.

One of my day jobs is to sell tickets for shows and to ensure people come to see those shows. A part of that is about communicating to many different stakeholders and many different audiences. I need almost 12 weeks' notice to sell 500 seats for one night. I would not underestimate the challenge facing the Government. I strongly urge the Government to delay the date for the referendum and to learn from the Referendum Commission's report, which was laid before the Houses only on 20 April last. Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the fiscal compact treaty and whether I will vote for it or not, which I will make known in the House, my concern is that civil servants and politicians, who are fantastic communicators, need a lead-in time for this. Today is 24 April and it is only five weeks to the referendum.

The following sentence is from Part 1 of the Schedule to the Bill:

Ní dhéanann aon fhoráil atá sa Bhunreacht seo dlíthe a d'achtaigh, gníomhartha a rinne nó bearta a ghlac an Stát de bhíthin riachtanais na n-oibleagáidí atá ar an Stát faoin gConradh sin a chur ó bhail dlí ná cosc a chur le dlíthe a d'achtaigh, gníomhartha a rinne nó bearta a ghlac comhlachtaí atá inniúil faoin gConradh sin ó fheidhm dlí a bheith acu sa Stát.

Bhí mé ag labhairt as Gaeilge ansin. Ní thuigim neart de céard atá á rá ansin. Is í sin an buairt atá orm. Tá gá leis an gcumarsáid seo. Ba cheart go mbeadh meas againn ar ár gcomhshaoránaigh ionas go mbeimid in ann am a chaitheamh ag cur fúinn. Ní chóir go mbeadh brú orainn - go mbeimid ag paniceáil, mar a deirtear i mBéarla - cinneadh a dhéanamh agus gan ach mí fágtha. That is my concern.

I will now read out two recommendations of the Referendum Commission that were laid before the House:

Reviewing as a matter of urgency the referendum process, including the statutory remit of the Referendum Commission, having regard to the Council of Europe's Code of Good Practice on Referendums (March 2007). The review should have particular regard to the need for voters to be given sufficient time, to have access to impartial information, and for a clear question being put to voters. Regard should also be had for the need to have balanced campaign material from the proposal's supporters and opponents available to electors. Allowance might also be made for either strict or proportional equality between parties rather than the current strict equality.

That is just not going to happen. We have five weeks and we are already ignoring this rule. I think that is something we should reflect upon and the message should go from the Seanad back to the Government in support of this.

I welcome the Government decision to put the treaty to the people in a referendum. The final part of this contract is that time should be given so that some of Senator Ó Clochartaigh's friends, namely the IFA, will not be given the high moral ground and the panic button to press in terms of the emotional mood music that can get people to vote one way or the other.

The second recommendation of the Referendum Commission is to give the commission a period of at least three months to explain a referendum proposal properly. Where procurement of services is required, an additional two months is needed. The Referendum Commission was publicly attacked by some Ministers who were under extraordinary pressure in delivering highly complex information. This is a highly complex document. Simply put, the treaty is well written. My concern is about the language in the Act. My genuine concern is that time and respect would be given to our fellow citizens in order they would be able to parse this information, deliberate on it and give a reasoned view on it once all the information has been put into the public domain.