The Minister for Social Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, today called for the Irish people to strongly endorse the Nice Treaty at the forthcoming referendum.
Speaking during a visit to Budapest, Mr Ahern said:"Ireland waited outside the doors of Europe for long enough to know what it's like in the cold.We don't need long memories in Ireland to recall darker economic days.
"We enjoy the prosperity that EU membership has given us and the future itpromises for our children.Voting for the Nice Treaty guarantees that future for us and for those we will welcome to the Union," he said.
The Minister was invited by his Hungarian counterpart to share with them Ireland's experience of EU membership as part of Hungary's build-up of their EU accession plans.
"Applicant countries see Ireland's success in Europe as a model for their future," Mr Ahern said.
"Membership of the EU since we joined in 1973 has been a powerful and positive influence in our economic and cultural development which has helped us to plan the foundations for our current success.
"It is no accident that our EU membership coincides with the greatest period of sustained prosperity and economic progress in our history," said the Minister.
He said that ratification of The Treaty of Nice will open the EU doors to Hungary and the other applicant countries by making the vital institutional changes that will allow an enlarged union of 27 members work efficiently.
