ANY impact on Irish neutrality arising from changes to the common defence of the European Union must be put to the people in a referendum, according to a report from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The report, published yesterday, is the committee's response to the draft treaty drawn up by the Irish Presidency of the EU at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) last year.
The committee has also called for the establishment of a European DNA bank for genetic finger printing to assist police forces throughout Europe. And the inclusion of a quantifiable job target and for reference to the rights of citizens to a clean and healthy environment. Ireland, and other smaller states must retain the right to nominate a European Commissioner, it says.