- Mr President, Uchtarán, go raibh mile maith agat. Mr President, I have just addressed you in my native tongue of Irish, saying a thousand thank yous. With your indulgence, as this is my maiden speech in this House, I wish to make my opening remarks in Irish. I will translate them immediately afterwards.

Uachtarán, is mór an áthas dom agus mé ag caint don céad uair sa teach seo, go bhfuil mé ábalta labhairt leatsa as gaeilge. Duit fhein agus don teach ba mhaith liom míle buiochas a ghlacadh. Níl aon ais anois faoi lathair le ghaeilge a labhairt ach le cuineamh Dé beidth athrú ar an scéal. Anois an raiteas as bearla.

Mr President, I have just said how happy I am that on this my maiden speech in this House, that I can speak to you in my mother tongue. To you, Sir, and the House, I say a thousand, thousand thank yous. There is no facilitiy now for speaking in Irish but, God willing, in the future that will be different.

Now to my speech in English. The Social Charter and the Social Protocol attached to the Maastricht Treaty have clearly recognized the need to improve information and consultation for workers and for employers, a principle to which we fully subscribe. In my own country we have been very positive about this in setting up and putting into legislation the requirement for worker directors. Overall, I believe the common position agreed by the Council is a balanced text which provides the required flexibility. Any major amendments, for example, with regard to lowering the proposed thresholds and reducing the negotiating period, are not realistic.

I do not wish to see the whole process unravel at Council because we failed to understand the importance of what has been agreed and achieved on the major issues. We must ensure that we do not endanger or jeopardize inward investment to countries in the Community, whether Ireland, France, Portugal or Greece. We must avoid creating a situation that conflicts with the needs of employment creation and what is of equal importance, employment maintenance. We must not be so inflexible that we jeopardize the ability of business and industry to compete effectively in what is becoming an increasingly competitive international business environment.

In short, our group believes that, over all, the common position is both balanced and flexible and that as far as possible this Parliament should support that position.