Mary Lou McDonald, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group. – Mr President, on behalf of my group I request that this package of reports be struck from the agenda of this session. I think that this House should show some measure of humility and some respect for the democratic process. We all know that Ireland has rejected the Lisbon Treaty and so it is of some wonderment to me that this House persists in debating that matter.

It is not democratically appropriate that this House should set aside the verdict of Ireland or that this House should be used to ratchet up pressure on Ireland in the coming months to adopt a treaty that is clearly not in our interests or in the interests of the European people. I remind Members that Ireland, and Ireland alone, had a democratic vote on this treaty and, in the only place where it was put to a democratic decision, the people rejected it.

I ask at this time, only weeks from the European elections, when the issue of the quality of our democracy is so crucial, that these reports be struck from the agenda and that we turn our attention rather to economic matters and the issue of unemployment – issues that really affect our citizens.