Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)

I am talking about Sinn Féin's argument, the one it would put to those people who may be deciding to invest in Ireland because they believe economic progress is being made here, albeit slow, painful and difficult. I would love to hear how Sinn Féin and others who oppose this treaty would explain to those wishing to invest in Ireland how budgetary and internal discipline is not a good development. The fact is Sinn Féin never gets challenged to do this. Its members are able to talk at great length involving all kinds of things but they have never been in the position as members of the Government having to talk about policy and budgetary rules to companies considering investing in Ireland. Effectively it gets away with its own imaginative play on words, trying to persuade the public to vote "No" when we all know job creation is important. The only way we can achieve future job creation and encourage companies to consider this small island off the Atlantic as a place worth investing in is by continuing to rebuild and believe in ourselves. This is only one small piece of an enormous jigsaw.

The Europe 2020 vision for the social market economy has headline targets which must be translated to national targets. We have to strive for 75% of the population to be employed. Up to 30% of EU GDP must be invested in research and development over the next five years. It also sets out climate and energy targets, the taking of millions of people out of poverty and all school leavers having a diploma. These are real targets for which the Government will be responsible for achieving, albeit far more slowly than most of us would like. Voting for this treaty will be a step in that direction because it will bring discipline across the Union.