The Government has not ignored or dismissed the outcome of the Nice Treaty referendum last year, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, told the Dáil. A process of debate and explanation had been put in place, which "all of us advocating a Yes vote failed to do adequately on the last occasion", he said.
He acknowledged that low turn out and a high No vote had a lot to do with a "growing feeling among some people that the European project was being pursued in an aggressive spirit, which ignored or overrode the interests, concerns and ambitions of many Irish people".
The Minister was speaking during the special debate for which the Dáil was recalled to sit for four days and deal with necessary legislation to pave the way for the referendum in late autumn.
Since the referendum, the Government had spelt out the principles "upon which we engage in Europe" and which set a clear course for Ireland. "We embrace the European Union wholeheartedly. We stay in the centre of the EU. We commit ourselves to its development. We set our faces collectively against semi-detached status on one hand and against an overly ambitious, federalist or superstate project on the other."
Remedying the existing democratic deficit would require "large change and commitment" from the Dáil and Seanad, a lot of which would go unrecognised. Enacting this charter would require increased Oireachtas scrutiny of EU policy and legislation and this would complicate day-to-day life for the Government, he said. It was tempting to conduct EU business behind closed doors "and far from the critical gaze and comment of third parties". But Ireland had to overcome the "absence of overt domestic democratic scrutiny of our European agenda".
Now was the time for Ireland to "show courage and self confidence - not to turn in on itself nor to turn our back on the ideas and hopes of an entire continent", he said.
He added that to reject Nice was to imply that there was some better treaty needed but nobody had indicated "any alternative treaty that has a hope of obtaining consensus status". Nice was the only plan for enlargement and enlargement would mean competition. "But the last five years have shown us that competition at home and abroad is a climate in which we thrive."
Labour TD Mr Joe Costello (Dublin Central) said his greatest concern was that the Government lacked credibility because of its lack of a proper campaign and debate before last year's vote. The Taoiseach "resembles the emperor with no clothes" on this issue. There was, he said, "a real danger that recent cutbacks will mean that people will use the Nice Treaty referendum as a way of inflicting short-term punishment on the Government. I hope that does not happen and that people vote Yes for the benefit of Ireland and the countries that have applied for membership."
The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, said the EU was good for Irish education and training. It had widened Irish horizons and "enriched our national debate". "The accession of new countries can only strengthen this process." An enlarged EU would be "one of the largest and wealthiest markets in the world" and the Nice Treaty would facilitate enlargement "at a time when Ireland is better placed than ever before to invest and trade overseas".
In his maiden speech, Mr Peter Kelly (FF, Longford-Ros-common) rejected claims that Ireland would not get EU funding because it was a wealthy country. If Ireland's public transport facilities were compared to Poland or the Czech Republic, "they are much wealthier than us in that context". There was an argument for further EU investment and this would have the goodwill of fellow Europeans with a Yes vote.
The debate resumes on Tuesday.
