Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The Taoiseach must do much more than that. It is important that a small member state such as Ireland be seen to try as much as possible to achieve a solution. If the prospect of failing deters intervention of the courageous kind in which Deputy John Bruton has exhorted the Taoiseach to engage and if such difficulties prevent him from using his undoubted skills of persuasion and negotiation, then the Irish Presidency will be a disaster. We are close to achieving agreement on a constitutional treaty. Notwithstanding comments by eurosceptics, the draft treaty has come through a much more democratic, transparent and participatory process than anything engaged in by the American founding fathers in Philadelphia more than 200 years ago.

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