Listening to the early results coming in from the Nice Treaty referendum, I was appalled at the attitude of a lot of the commentators who questioned the right of the people to vote No, as I did. They seemed to imply that the majority of the people had no right to do what they did and that they were either knaves or fools, or both, for having voted No.
This made me very angry, as I believe the right of the people to have their choice respected is fundamental to our democracy. Article 6 of the Constitution is very clear in this regard. It states: "All powers of Government, Executive, Legislative and Judicial, derive under God from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the State and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good."
The people had exercised their right in the referendum and it seemed that a certain powerful section resented their ability to do so. It was for this reason that, when asked what way I had voted myself, I explained I had voted No because I conscientiously believed, when I entered the polling booth that this was how I should cast my vote.
People have asked me why I voted against the express wish of the Government. The fundamental fact, of course, in a democracy is that the citizen, and this includes all citizens including government ministers, act totally in their private capacity and on their own initiative in the polling booth and they are not bound by the ideas or decisions of any other body.
It is for that reason that the secrecy of the ballot box is considered sacrosanct in all functioning democracies.
I have been accused by a number of people of being hypocritical for calling for a Yes vote as a minister and then voting the other way. The situation is, of course, that as a Minister of State I am bound to articulate the Government position when speaking in public on behalf of the Government. To do otherwise would require me to resign, not only from my ministerial post but also from the Fianna Fail parliamentary party.
No doubt people are asking what my attitude is towards the Treaty of Nice and the European Union. First of all, in relation to the Treaty of Nice, while calling for a Yes vote, as I was obliged to do, I explained very fully my attitude to the treaty and the EU at a meeting in the Menlo Park Hotel and also on various radio interviews, particularly in a radio debate with Dana, in which I openly concurred with a lot of her views on the European Union.
In these debates I expressed my concern about the long-term objectives for the EU of some leaders in Europe and some politicians in Ireland. A lot of these objectives are alluded to in speeches but are not in the Treaty of Nice.
They include the desire by some, including members of Fine Gael, to form a United States of Europe, where all we would have in Ireland is a form of Home Rule, and also the desire for tax harmonisation and a EU military super-state. Of course, Fianna Fail's (and I understand, the Progressive Democrats') situation is very different and they believe fundamentally that the EU should continue to remain a union of sovereign independent states, pooling certain areas of responsibility.
I am, as I stated many times in the last month, very much in favour of enlargement of the EU, as I feel that this would, over time, provide a counterbalance or counterweight to the draw towards the centre and the dominance of the larger countries. The more small countries that join the EU the more likely it is that a Union in the fashion desired by the Government will be achieved.
Over the last number of years, both as Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, and for Agriculture, I have had direct dealings with the EU in relation to many directives and schemes.
My experience with them is that while at times it is hard to argue with the general thrust of their objectives, the Union takes an inflexible and unreasonable attitude towards implementation of certain policies.
This struck me particularly in relation to the Habitats Directive, where the room for manoeuvre to allow people continue with traditional activities was very limited and where the EU seems very reluctant to facilitate the full compensation of, for example, farmers, who had to de-stock because of the over-grazing of hills.
No doubt some of the public thought the inflexibility in implementing the directives, such as the Habitats Directive, came from Duchas, but I can assure them it is not so.
There were some very scary moments for both Minister Sile de Valera and myself during the last few years when we were trying to facilitate ordinary people carrying out their normal activities, while at the same time trying to make sure this country would not be in breach of its obligations under the Habitats Directive and that we would not bring upon ourselves all the negative consequences this would bring.
In the Department of Agriculture I similarly found that because of regulations set down in Brussels and their inflexibility, a lot of things that should be done for people, particularly for farmers, cannot be done. A typical example of this is the Farm Improvement Scheme which requires that farmers reach "viability" in order to benefit from this scheme. "Viability" in this case is considered having 20 livestock units, irrespective of the fact that a lot of small farmers in the west achieve viability by having an off-farm income.
This locks out of this very important farm scheme the vast majority of the farmers of the Connemara region along with a large number of farmers in the rest of Co Galway. These farmers are the smallest farmers who most require assistance to deal with farm improvement - and according to EU regulation are deprived of assistance under the scheme. I am working to see what way I can get around this problem, but it should not have been there in the first place.
I do not believe there is a great difference between the attitude of the majority of the Nice Yes and No voters. Most people in my experience are very favourably disposed towards enlargement, do not want a European super-government and want the principle of subsidiarity not only adhered to in word but also in action.
It would seem to me that the vast majority of people do not want to see a European super-state ruling us and reject very much the notion of an autocracy, or even a democracy where the will of the people, as outlined in our Constitution, is not supreme. Most Irish people do not want the creation of a European military super-state and have long-term concerns in this direction.
To those who say I should have resigned because I disagreed with Government policy, I would say the following. My difference on this issue was on the balance of good, not on an absolute. And it was not on an issue of fundamental moral importance.
Every minister and minister of state, every person who is a member of an organisation or society know they do not personally agree with every decision made by such organisations. If they hold an office in an organisation they will of course be bound to carry out the will of the majority when this is decided.
My situation as a Government Minister is no different. In recent years I have been in a very privileged position of being able to ameliorate some of the worst effects of European directives, rules and regulations. I would not have been able to do this had I not been a Minister of State.
To Dana and others who have criticised me and urged me to resign, I would say I was able to do much more in the last number of years to assist the ordinary citizens of this country, and particularly those living in the west, and to protect them from the worst excesses of the European bureaucracy as a Minister than I would have been able to do sitting on the sidelines as a backbench Independent TD or even as an MEP.
I do not think that those people who share my concerns, and who see me as a Minister who understands the ordinary needs of people, would thank me if I was to walk away from the opportunity to ensure that their interests are protected by the day-to-day work I do.
I will be more than willing to go before the electorate at any time on this basis and to let them make the choice.
Eamon O Cuiv is Minister of State for Agriculture and a Fianna Fail TD for Galway West