EU will have to reassure public - Cowen

THE EUROPEAN Council meeting this week “will be a real test” of the EU’s capacity to accommodate the needs of the Irish public and the concerns of other member states, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has told the Dáil.

“I have a clear idea of what we want,” Mr Cowen said. “The Government will need to be able to reassure the people that their genuinely held concerns have been taken on board by the other member states.”

He added however that “I am not in a position to describe in detail the shape of the agreement which may be reached at the end of this week. I would venture to say, no one is in a position to do so”.

Mr Cowen agreed with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin that the talks “would go down to the wire” at the meeting where EU leaders are expected to set a target for Ireland to ratify the Lisbon Treaty by the end of 2009.

During a Dáil debate on the report of the Oireachtas subcommittee on Ireland’s future in the EU, the Taoiseach said the Irish public needed assurance on “the future composition of the commission; issues related to defence and our tradition of neutrality; social-ethical matters and taxation”.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny criticised Mr Cowen’s speech, which he said failed to “deal with the core issues”.

He told the House: “I regret to say that I have very little confidence that this Taoiseach and this Government have the capacity to steer the country towards a solution to this problem or to re-establish Ireland’s place as a respected and influential member of the EU decision-making process.

“I am astonished at the Taoiseach’s utter failure to build any bipartisan support for a solution, something he desperately needs,” he said.

Mr Kenny criticised the Government’s failure to consult his party about plans on the treaty.

However, Mr Martin warned the Opposition not to be “dismissive” of the No vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum. While Fine Gael had an honourable tradition as a pro-Europe party, it seemed of late to have “a greater priority to criticise the Government rather than advance a unified approach to Europe”.

He said: “Don’t be dismissive of the No vote. We didn’t convince people [in the referendum]. If you look at the will of the people, issues to do with neutrality and defence are high on people’s priorities.”

Labour spokesman Joe Costello said “unless we are engaging in Europe on the floor of this House as regularly as possible, communicating with the public and inviting the public to communicate with us, I cannot see us making much progress in this arena”.

Sinn Féin spokesman on international affairs Aengus Ó Snodaigh said that “the Irish people voted for a better deal and that deal should have been delivered by this Government. I believe that the almost one million people who rejected the Lisbon Treaty and indeed those who voted for it but respected the democratic outcome will make their views known in next year’s European Union elections.”