 Thanks very much Brendan for your very warm introduction. Excellencies, deputies, ladies and gentlemen, four weeks from tomorrow, May the 31st, we will all individually have a decision to make. How we vote on the stability treaty will have profound implications for all of us, for our families and for our country. As we contemplate this decision, we owe it to ourselves to engage in open, constructive and truthful debate about what the treaty means for Ireland and for Europe. What the implications of a yes vote are and what are the consequences if the Irish people reject the treaty. As you know the government strongly believes that ratification of the treaty is in Ireland's national interest and we are seeking a yes vote. Today, what the Scottish Gen Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and also as leader of the Labour Party, I want to reflect on the background to the decision we are taking on how Ireland's relationship with Europe has evolved over the years and how this treaty is a logical and important step forward. But most importantly on how stability is a necessary condition for growth, not an alternative to it. We will only succeed in our objective of economic recovery if we work from a solid platform of stability in Ireland and in Europe. Fiscal and financial stability can only be achieved if we have economic growth and job creation. That applies at home as it applies in Europe. It is already the policy of this government that budget consolidation alone will not solve all our problems and there is now a growing mood in Europe to press ahead with the growth agenda which is firmly in line with Ireland's position. Stability and growth. Growth and stability are not opposites. They go together. If I may adapt some words of a former colleague, growth without stability is like one hand clapping and the same applies to stability without growth. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of Ireland's accession to the European Union, what was then widely known as the Common Market. The decision to join the European project was taken after 50 years of native self-government, a period during which the economic ambitions of the independence movement had been deeply disappointed. The attempt by independent Ireland to promote industrialisation behind protective barriers had failed and it was only in the 1960s when Ireland began to open up economically and socially that we had a taste of what prosperity might be possible. The Ireland that had left the United Kingdom was a predominantly agricultural region of the British economy and by 1973 that was still largely true. 30% of people still worked in agriculture and the vast bulk of exports still made their way to the UK. The imbalance in our level of income per capita compared to our nearest neighbour had changed little. The promise of the Common Market was the opportunity to improve employment opportunities and living standards by being part of the Common Agricultural Policy and by building up an industrial base with access to European markets. Over the decades the advantages that Ireland found in membership of the European community grew and developed. In the 1980s access to European social funds was used to open up opportunities in education and training. In the 1990s Ireland successfully used structural funds to enhance economic infrastructure and promote development. As time went on we began to achieve the economic development and convergence with European living standards that we had sought for so long. GDP per capita in Ireland in 1973 was 58% of the EU 15 average by 1996 that had reached 99%. By the end of the century Ireland had made the transition from being an underdeveloped region of Europe to a modern technologically advanced European country. We had diversified our industrial base and our export markets, built up the skills of our people and transformed our infrastructure. In other words Ireland was successful in using our membership of the Union to achieve long-held national goals. To make Ireland a place where one could learn, find a job, make a good life and grow old in comfort. A place that was shaking off the legacy of economic failure and loss that went back to the famine. It was also through our membership of the Union that we modernized our society as well as our economy. In the field of labour law, competition law, rights for women, consumer rights and environmental protection we worked with Europe to achieve better standards to the benefit of all our people. It was in that context of an Ireland transformed, modernized and economically succeeding that we joined the euro. That decision reflected not just a new confidence but also an understanding of the fundamentally changed nature of our relationship with Europe. We no longer saw ourselves as an underdeveloped region on the western edge of Europe. We were now a country whose living standards had converged with European norms and which understood how to convert access to European and global markets into jobs and prosperity. Joining the euro was about availing of the greater economic opportunities offered by trading in a common currency and also about getting away from the financial instability such as we experienced during the currency crisis of 1992. Today it is sometimes forgotten how vulnerable our national currency was to speculative attack. Joining the euro was the right decision then. Defending it is the right decision now. There are of course problems around the euro today but there are also solutions. The treaty on which we have to vote is part of the solution, a necessary part and the specific part on which we have to vote but it is by no means the total solution. Since coming to office the government has taken firm but difficult decisions to stabilize our economic and financial position. We recapitalized and reshaped the banking system. We took action to bring order to our public finances. We took a series of measures to promote growth and job creation and we launched a major drive to rebuild our reputation abroad. As we have worked our way through these economic and financial difficulties however one thing has become increasingly clear. For all the progress that Ireland is making we are constantly coming up against the barrier of instability in the eurozone. People say to us yes Ireland is doing the right things and recovering but what about the euro? Ireland has been restoring its own reputation but meanwhile confidence in the euro and in Europe has been declining. Take as an example what we have had to do in the banking system. During the property bubble Ireland's banking system became too large and too dependent on wholesale money markets. Ireland's banking reforms are designed to reduce the scale of the banking system to fit better with the size of our economy and to better serve its needs. The banking strategy has been designed to ensure that there is scope for new lending even as the system itself is deleveraged but our capacity to implement those reforms will be greatly undermined if there is instability in the European banking system. Similarly our capacity to get back into the sovereign bond markets depends not just on the measures that we take in Ireland but also the overall level of investor confidence in eurozone sovereigns. It is clear that the progress we are making is being held back by the crisis in the euro. Equally while growth returned to the Irish economy in 2011 with the benefit of a strong export performance growing uncertainty about the European economy has led to growth forecasts for Ireland being pared back. In short stability and growth in Ireland requires stability and growth in Europe. They are not alternatives they march hand in hand. You cannot have growth here or in Europe without financial stability. The stability treaty therefore is an important part of Europe's response to the crisis but it is only part of the response and was never intended to be the sole response. Since the treaty was signed we have seen significant additional measures being applied including injections of liquidity into the European banking system by the ECB. There is now one trillion euro in additional support which is helping to bring greater stability to the banking system and to the market for sovereign bonds. The treaty has also provided the backdrop against which member states have substantially increased the size of combined EFSF and ESM firewalls. For legal and constitutional reasons it is the treaty alone that we are voting on but we have to remember that it is part of that wider package on which no referendum is necessary but that package is in turn dependent on the ratification of the treaty. The Irish government has made the case consistently before the conclusion of the treaty and now that we have to do more. It is time to move the debate onto a growth strategy. As I said it has always been my view and it is the policy of the Irish government that budget consolidation alone will not solve all our problems. That is why before the treaty was negotiated the Taoiseach joined other European leaders in writing to President Van Rompuy setting out a number of pathways to promote growth at European level. That is why the text of the treaty itself states explicitly that the contracting party's desire and I quote to promote conditions for stronger economic growth in the European Union and to that end to develop ever closer coordination of economic policies within the Eurozone. And it is also why article one of the treaty states its purpose to be to support and I quote the achievement of the European Union's objectives for sustainable growth employment competitiveness cohesion. That is why at the January summit when the treaty was concluded European leaders also agreed to step up action to promote growth including finance for SMEs using the European investment bank to promote innovation and entrepreneurship and tackling youth unemployment. Let me read from the official statement made by all of the members of the European Council all 27 heads of state and government on the January on January the 30th 2012 my quote decisions have been taken to ensure financial stability and fiscal consolidation. This is a necessary condition for a return to higher structural growth and employment but it is not in itself sufficient. We have to modernize our economies and strengthen our competitiveness to secure a sustainable growth. This is essential to create jobs and preserve our social models and it is at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy and the euro plus pact. These efforts must be made in close cooperation with social partners respecting member states national systems. Growth and employment will only resume if we pursue a consistent and broad based approach combining a smart fiscal consolidation preserving investment in future growth sound macroeconomic policies and an active employment strategy preserving social cohesion. That was the statement which was made unanimously by the 27 heads of state and government on the conclusion of the treaty. It is why to when Ireland assumes the presidency next year we will be working on a new round of proposals from the commission to drive this growth agenda forward. I am pleased that our analysis is now finding wider purchase. It is of course for the people of France to decide who they elect as their president when they cast their votes next Sunday. Francois Hollande the candidate of Labour's sister party has however made it clear that if he is elected he will push strongly for a renewed agenda for growth and jobs. I fully share and support his ambition although no doubt there will be differences over the detail of what may be proposed and he is not alone in countries with very different situations and governments of different political stripes there is an emerging mood in favour of a new approach close to that which has already been advocated by Ireland. There are ideas coming not just from France but also from the commission and from the president of the council. They all centre on the core idea that now is the time to invest in infrastructure and in innovation to improve the productive capacity and competitiveness of the European economy and to stimulate growth. At home the government has been working to develop an investment agenda. We have already created the strategic investment fund and new era as vehicles to support investment in the Irish economy. With the stability we have already achieved to date and with the new measures being developed in Europe we can make a real impact on our capacity to achieve more growth and create more jobs. We can use these resources to promote investment on a commercial basis in infrastructure and innovation that will locate Ireland as a technologically advanced exporting country while also stimulating the domestic economy. But these measures to grow our economy to attract investment and encourage innovation and to re-stimulate domestic demand have to be taken on a stable surface and that is the core of the referendum debate. You cannot have growth without stability and ultimately you will not have stability without growth. Ratifying the treaty is necessary to continue our path to recovery. There's nothing new in this nor is it an argument that is owned by any one political persuasion. It was a French socialist Jacques Delors who laid the groundwork for economic union. It was an Irish Labour Minister for Finance Rory Quinn who took the lead in negotiating the stability and growth pact during Ireland's 1996 presidency and what is more it was also that same Labour Minister for Finance who took Ireland from deficit to surplus during the term of the rainbow coalition government. Social Democrats have always been clear that fiscal discipline is an important requirement for growth. In fact those countries in Europe that have run the smallest deficits are also the most social democratic in their orientation. By the same token those who have tried to associate the treaty with austerity have to answer the question is there ever a point at which they think we should stop borrowing and who is going to continue to lend to us indefinitely if we do not control our own budget. One of the many lessons of the past decade is that a small open economy like Ireland needs to be prudent about its finances to avoid being blown off course by a global downturn. It also proves beyond doubt that if you want the public finances to absorb problems in bad times you need to manage them well in good times. That is the case for this treaty. It provides a commitment to good management of the public finances at home and across Europe. It provides confidence for investors and others about the future stability of the currency zone. It provides Ireland with the insurance policy of access to the ESM a facility we don't ever want to use but just having it there as an essential backstop and crucially it provides a platform of stability specifically a stable currency on which we can then build at home and abroad to boost investment in jobs and in the future capacity of the economy. The euro is our currency. It is the money in our pocket, the money we spend when we have it, the money we save when we can. We are in this project for the right reasons and we must stick to it now. Ratifying the treaty is not the only thing we have to do to recover but it is essential. Voting yes for the treaty is a vote for recovery for the way out of the difficult times in which we find ourselves. To say no would be to move backwards. It would be a vote for more austerity not less. Ireland is a good country. We can achieve and we will achieve economic recovery. We can and we will create jobs for our people and a future for our children. We can move on from where we are to create a better and a fairer Ireland and that is what this referendum is about and that is why we need a yes vote. Thank you very much.