Mr. Gay Mitchell, MEP:

I thank Senator Gilroy for his kind words. I agree with him that sovereignty is about taking responsibility and making decisions in those areas for which we have responsibility. In the EU we can only do what we are committed to do by the treaties, as the people have permitted us. If something is not contained in the treaties, we cannot do it; it is a matter for national parliaments. The Parliament in Ireland can do whatever it wishes provided it does not contravene Bunreacht na hÉireann, but we are in a different position. Sovereignty is a real issue. With all my heart I believe we became truly sovereign the day we joined the European Union and found ourselves a role in the world. We tend to eulogise the United Nations, rightly, especially because we have supplied many UN peacekeepers and have given a great deal to the UN, and many of our people have died. However, we have never had an Irish Secretary General of the UN, or anything like it, whereas we have a real say in Europe.

I refer to the perceived damage. I was Minister with responsibility for European affairs from 1994 to 1997, during Ireland's then Presidency. In a general sense we could more or less get whatever we wanted done because people had a great disposition towards Ireland. After the first Nice treaty there was a kind of disbelief that Ireland had voted "No" - not among the older member states, which know that things can go wrong in a referendum, but among newer member states. These countries did not have a great tradition of democracy, which was new to them, and they wanted to emulate Ireland. We were the country they wanted to be. Then they got the idea that Ireland was against the European Union. We had to explain that this was not the case but that people had concerns about the treaty. Things recovered, but then we took another knock after the first Lisbon treaty referendum. People asked what had gone wrong, because Ireland was doing well in Europe, was respected and had a real role there. Things changed dramatically again when the question on the stability pact was put to the people's vote. It was not clear whether a vote was needed. As far as I recall, the Attorney General decided it would be safe to have a vote and people then voted "Yes". That was the single thing that changed the mood in Europe. Most people said "That could not have been easy for the Irish people." That was when respect for Ireland began.

There was a question about the commentariat here and there. In Europe, in private conversation, people ask why other countries do not look to Ireland. In addition, Europe wants a success story; it wants Ireland to succeed. We are very much pushing an open door. I do not know why this does not enter the minds of the commentariat here. I presume that if one goes on the radio and says only nice things one is not invited back. Perhaps the reason is that polemics work, but in my view, something is out of balance. It is right that people should criticise and question; sometimes it gives us strength in the Parliament when we can say we are under pressure at home. There is nothing wrong with that, but it must be balanced by reporting the good things and not being carried away by the negatives.

I thank Senator Mullen for his comments. I refer to gendercide and am glad there is agreement across the House on the issue. There is a rapporteur on gendercide on the development committee. I became interested in this subject after reading an article in The Economist which began with the premise that across the world there were 100 million women missing because of gender-based abortion and infanticide. However, the real figure is likely to be 200 million. The disproportion between numbers of men and women in certain countries is horrific and shocking, and research has shown this is the case. Recently the BBC produced some articles on this subject, which for whatever reason does not get much coverage here. Everybody would agree that the idea of terminating the life of either an unborn or a born person because of her gender is totally unacceptable.

There are differences in the Parliament on matters of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Some members will not vote for sexual and reproductive health funding, while others will, including myself. Some will not vote for any of these things, while others will vote for everything. The phrase "and rights" is taken by many to mean that there could be funding for abortion in the developing world. I have been involved for eight years in the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, where 30 MEPs, if we can get that number, meet with the 78 African-Caribbean-Pacific parliaments. We do this twice a year. One such meeting will happen during Ireland's Presidency, although it will take place in Brussels. During all those years I never heard this issue being raised. People are more concerned with other issues. However, there are serious gender issues which can be addressed, and not only in the traditional ways in which we consider them. For example, in countries where gendercide is an issue, if there was some support in the form of crop insurance and insurance for old age, as there is in this country, people might not feel the necessity to have very big families, and to have boys rather than girls. We need to approach these matters on a range of fronts and this is something in which I am very much involved.

I am glad to hear Senator Eamonn Coghlan is still running around the streets of Dublin. We come from adjoining parishes, as he noted. I am glad he mentioned the peace process, which I forgot to do. We should remind ourselves that much of the solid support for the peace process came from and continues to come from Europe.

The 12.5% corporate tax rate is entirely a matter for member state governments and the European Parliament has no competence in it. Of course, national governments could decide together to change this situation, but it would require unanimity. I sometimes imagine that if the Irish Government said one morning, "We are going to put this 12.5% tax rate on the table; let's talk about the issue," the British, the French and some of the smaller member states would immediately say "Not so fast." Such a change would require unanimity, which is unlikely. People are looking at the CCCTB, the common consolidated corporate tax base, which is something we could consider. Others try to build into that a repatriation of profits, because there would have to be an allocation of profits to where sales had taken place and where staff are mainly based. There are points of that kind. Let us be open about this. There is a certain jealousy in regard to Ireland's tax rate, but ours is not the lowest rate in the Union. I believe Bulgaria has a rate of 10% and one of the Baltic states also has a low tax rate. The French tax rate is supposed to be 35%, or somewhere close, but the effective rate is 8%. I do not wish to point the finger at France, but some countries speak of how egalitarian they are, with a high rate of tax, while in the background they are writing things off so that the effective rate is 8%. Our tax rate is very transparent. Our effective tax rate is in the order of 11.6% on a rate of 12.5%, so, for all intents and purposes, they are the same. Senator Barrett would know the answer to this, being a transport economist, but I recall that when I was spokesperson on transport, the cost of bringing our goods to the market was twice the European average. We need some advantages, being an island, to give us the opportunity we need.

On the same issue of tax, the current Prime Minister of Italy, Mr. Monti, who used to be a Commissioner, produced what is called the Monti report, in which he stated that corporate tax competition is a good thing because it keeps everybody on their toes. There may be much talk about this issue, but I do not see grounds for any major change in the future. If one were to happen it would require unanimous agreement on behalf of the member state Governments. There would certainly have to be something in it for Ireland to agree to that, and the same applies to Britain, France and other countries.