FF PRESS CONFERENCE:TÁNAISTE MARY Coughlan was embarrassed yesterday after she wrongly claimed for the second time in four days that larger EU states have two members of the European Commission.
Under the Amsterdam Treaty, which came into force in 1999, the larger states agreed to cut their representation to one each once the EU expanded again, which happened in 2004.
Speaking at a Fianna Fáil Lisbon Treaty press conference, Ms Coughlan said: "I think it is important that instead of muddying the waters that we give absolute clarity on what the issues are. Yes, we do have one commissioner, but other larger member states have more than one commissioner and, therefore, it is very important that we see in the framework that has been set out that there is an equality within the present proposals: that we have equal access to representation to a commissioner," she said.
Minister of State for European Affairs Dick Roche spoke quietly to the Tánaiste, appearing to give her the correct information, though she abruptly cut him off when he tried again.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin quickly interjected, insisting the Government believed that it had done extraordinarily well in the Lisbon negotiations. "I think it is an extraordinary outcome of the negotiations that Ireland has the same access to a commissioner as Germany does, or the United Kingdom. That is a positive."
Under Lisbon, from 2014 every EU state would be able to nominate a commissioner only twice out of every three commissions.
Last Saturday, Ms Coughlan made the same incorrect argument about commission representation during an exchange with presenter Rodney Rice on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday View.
Then, she said: "When it comes to the issue of commissioners, people seem to forget: we have one commissioner. Other large member states have more than one commissioner."
Questioned about her incorrect statement at the press conference, the Tánaiste said: "I said 'initially'. If you want to criticise that's fine. Initially when we first started off in the European Community others had more membership than heretofore. Perhaps I did not distinguish what I said."
Rejecting Libertas's warnings about the future loss of an Irish commissioner, Mr Martin said yesterday that commissioners represented the union's interests once appointed, not their member state of origin.
"The question from Libertas presupposes that everything depends on the country having a commissioner and that everything is channelled through the national commissioner. That is not the case," he said.
During negotiations to agree the current round of EU research funding, Mr Martin said that he had "not once spoken to" Ireland's commissioner, Charlie McCreevy.
Instead, he and Irish officials had negotiated with the line commissioner and officials for two years, putting Ireland's perspective to them.
"We met the commissioner in this case. We gave our perspective to him. That is how it happens in practice. When some critical issues arise very often it is the Taoiseach who deals directly with the commission president. Ultimately, it is how you develop a strong relationship with the individual commissioner enables you to get your point across.
"The whole premise behind this notion is deeply flawed. In any event, the outcome of the negotiations is that every country is treated exactly the same way, regardless of size," he said.
