Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-16-Speech-2-240"
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"en.20081216.31.2-240"2
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"Mr President, the Irish Government has managed to spin a successful story detailing its valiant efforts to defend the rights of the Irish electorate at the recent European Council summit. It has championed the will of the people of Ireland in Brussels and has secured legally binding assurances on all sensitive issues for Ireland.
The key point is this: the concerns expressed during the Lisbon referendum in relation to taxation, military neutrality and abortion were largely based on misinformation. The reality is that either these issues are unaffected by the Lisbon Treaty or protocols safeguarding Ireland’s position are already attached. For example, Protocol 35 to the present Lisbon Treaty protects Ireland’s stance on abortion.
My party, Fine Gael, has recently made a number of concrete suggestions, following the subcommittee’s report on its analysis of the Irish ‘no’. With these proposals Fine Gael is attempting to address the root causes of the Irish ‘no’. Legal assurances will not be enough for the Irish to vote ‘yes’ in the autumn of next year. There must also be a meaningful engagement with the Irish people, to rebuild understanding of and support for the European process.
Voter research after the referendum revealed a very low level of public understanding of the role and functions of the European Union. This disengagement is a major challenge for both the European Union itself and for the national political system and should not be underestimated again by the Irish Government.
Among our suggestions we propose a constitutional change to allow future international treaties to be referred to the Irish Supreme Court when they are agreed, to establish which provisions should be put to the Irish people. Such a mechanism would tease out the issues in need of debate in Ireland, would let the Irish electorate have their say and would finally allow Ireland to ratify the spirit of such treaties overall without stalling progress for other concerned parties.
We also propose the establishment of a new constitutional office of European Union Citizens’ Officer. The appointee would act as an independent advisory officer on all aspects of EU legislation, including its transposition into Irish law. This individual would be responsible for providing impartial information on the facts about European issues, including when conflicting arguments arise."@en1
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