TAOISEACH'S IMPACT SPEECH: TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has said that he is confident that recent judgements by the European Court of Justice regarding workers rights will not have nay detrimental effects on the rights of workers in Ireland.
Speaking at the biennial conference of the trade union Impact in Kilkenny yesterday, Mr Cowen said he was aware that the trade union movement had concerns at the potential implications of these judgments.
The unions have interpreted two judgments recently by the European Court of Justice as giving precedence to economic concerns over the rights of workers.
The judgments have been highlighted by some in the trade union movement who oppose the Lisbon Treaty.
In three separate contributions to the treaty debate during his visit to Kilkenny yesterday, Mr Cowen invoked the late Fianna Fáil taoiseach Seán Lemass when calling for a Yes vote. He said Lemass, like the current generation of the party's leadership, had put Europe at the heart of his vision for a more prosperous Ireland.
In his address to the Impact conference, Mr Cowen said he was also satisfied that the Lisbon Treaty would not weaken the position of workers in any way. On the contrary, it was very much in the interest of everyone to support the treaty wholeheartedly.
The treaty would give effect to the Charter of Fundamental Rights which included workers' rights to information and consultation, to collective bargaining and action and to protection in the event of unjustified dismissal, he said.
Mr Cowen also said the treaty committed the EU to pursuing full employment and social progress as well as social justice, and to combating social exclusion and discrimination.
Over the last 35 years or so the EU had often provided leadership in social and employment rights legislation, he said.
Earlier, at the start of a nationwide bus tour by Fianna Fáil promoting a Yes vote, Mr Cowen argued that respect for small countries like Ireland lay at the heart of the treaty.
"Over the past 35 years the EU has earned the right to be seen as one of the most positive forces in the history of Europe's smaller states," he said. "It has given us an opportunity to thrive and be secure."
Speaking on the issue again last night at a public meeting in Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny, Mr Cowen said Ireland's involvement with Europe was consistent with patriotism and the commitment of past generations of Irish republicans.
"The decision to join the EU was the moment when a more confident Ireland moved on from what had become a dated ideology of 'ourselves alone'."