It was a case of "cod for the main course and fudge for dessert" Mr John Gormley TD told the assembled hacks as he braved a lunch of the Association of European Journalists in Dublin yesterday to debate Nice with the Greens' nemesis, the Minister of State at the Board of Works, Mr Tom Parlon.
Then they got down to real business. But the expected knock-down brawl it was not. Mr Parlon, who last week made it clear he would not have a Green running his farmyard, was sweet reason and Mr Gormley responded in kind.
Listing all those national politicians who had initially described Nice as a bad treaty, Mr Gormley decried what he saw as the false politeness of those who shrugged their shoulders and said "we have to go with it anyway".
He said that in the construction of Europe it was important to learn the lesson of the equality of states in the US.
And he set out an alternative vision of an EU in which each member-state was represented by one equal vote in the Council of Ministers and suggested that could be balanced by a European Parliament in which representation accurately reflected the membership of the states in the union.
"Instead we get the French bureaucratic model," he said, insisting that Nice was about empowering the larger states.
He said that he was not wedded to the idea of a national veto but any extension of majority voting had to be done in the context of a democratic Europe. He rejected the argument that the EU could become a counterweight to the forces of globalisation. "That is simply not happening. Instead it is moving the globalising agenda forward," he said.
Mr Parlon argued that EU membership has allowed Ireland to step out from under the shadow of Britain and "allowed us to make our own way in the world".
Joining the EU in 1973 had represented "a certain loss of sovereignty", he admitted.
"But it is ironic that our contribution to world affairs and our ability to make our voice heard on the great international issues is vastly greater now than it was 30 years ago. By sharing power we have gained power."
Mr Parlon urged voters to listen to the voices of the four parties in the Dáil which had experience of negotiating on Ireland's behalf in Europe, all four of whom support the treaty.
"All four know that the strength of our position in Europe is based on the goodwill of our partners."
"Our negotiating strength is not based on vetoes or votes."
