IT IS up to the Government to manage the political situation that develops from the Lisbon Treaty referendum result, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has told the Dáil.
Introducing a five-hour debate, he said: “The people have spoken. The Government accepts their verdict.
“It is for the Government now to manage the political situation that develops as a result, both at home and internationally.”
Mr Cowen said it was too early to understand fully the significance of last week’s referendum and the Dáil debate was part of the national discussion we must now undertake.
“Today is also about being honest with ourselves now that our country has taken its decision. Today is about contemplating not just the events of last week, but what they might mean for our nation in the years and decades to come.”
The EU has been the most effective and advanced response to globalisation the world has seen.
“For 35 years Ireland has been comfortable with its place in this evolving union,” Mr Cowen said.
“The public rejected what the Government, the main Opposition parties and others recommended to them as the next step in that process. As a consequence, we now face uncertainty,” the Taoiseach said.
He repeated that “the will of the people is sovereign in our democracy. In Europe, democracy is no less sacrosanct”.
Mr Cowen today will represent the Republic for the first time as Taoiseach at the European Council and said that much of what he would tell other leaders at the meeting would mirror his contribution to the Dáil debate. He said that his assessment of the rejection of the treaty in the referendum will have to be viewed alongside its approval in the majority of member states.
“This is the difficulty which faces Ireland and the union,” he added.
Mr Cowen said the many disparate views and, in some cases, contradictory positions, made it difficult to analyse the key messages underlying the outcome of the referendum.
He had no doubt that European partners would express their strong preference to find a shared solution and “for my part I will impress upon them the need to avoid prejudicing the process which we must now undertake in Ireland”.
The Taoiseach emphasised the need for the domestic and EU processes to proceed in tandem: for any outcome to be viable, it would not only have to be agreeable to the Irish people, but also to all member states.
Many of the State’s partners had expressed their disappointment at the result, but there were some groups across Europe who now wished to claim the Irish people as their new friends, he said. “They are headed by the likes of Jean Marie Le Pen or Nigel Farage [leader of the UK Independent Party]. “I believe that no proud Irish man or woman could but be uneasy that they rejoice in our decision. And let us be under no illusions about why they are rejoicing,” he said.
“It is because they believe they can use the vote of our people to serve their misguided political goals – goals that Ireland does not and never will share, goals that are inimical to our interests,” Mr Cowen said.
