asked the Taoiseach whether he will publish for the benefit of Members and the public all official statements and documents issued by the Fouchet Committee established by the Governments of the Six, and also all official statements issued by the Governments of the Six concerning closer European political union.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - European Political Union.
27.
With your permission, Sir, I propose to take Questions Nos. 26 and 27 together.
So far as I am aware the Fouchet Committee has not yet prepared a draft Treaty of the kind mentioned by the Deputy nor has it published any documents or issued any official statements. Press reports have apparently related to drafts submitted to the Committee on behalf of Governments represented on it.
Did the Taoiseach not think it desirable to let us know what these drafts are? These drafts have, in fact, been the subject of discussion in the European Parliament. They have been the subject of discussion among the parliamentarians of the Six. I think it would be useful if we also could see the drafts which the parliamentarians of the Six have had before them.
The Deputy will appreciate he is asking me to give some official status to a document which I have seen only in the form of a leakage of news to the press. In any event, I doubt very much if it would be of very much use at this stage. It appears now that the draft—it was a French Draft—has been withdrawn and another draft, which nobody has seen so far, substituted for it.
Did not the Taoiseach at the lecture given by Most Reverend Dr. Philbin refer to the text of the Fouchet Committee?
I did not. I said the Fouchet Committee appeared to be deadlocked.
May I remind the Taoiseach that he spoke of the Fouchet Committee "called after its author".
I referred to the Committee.
Very good. Whatever the Taoiseach referred to on the occasion of that lecture, can he publish that?
What I said on that occasion was that the Committee appeared, judging by articles in the Press, to be deadlocked at that time, and making no progress. I understand a meeting of the Committee is to be held next week, following which it may be possible to get more information.
Does the Taoiseach not agree it would be a considerable advantage to the members of this House and to the public if they knew the lines on which the statesmen and parliamentarians of Europe are discussing the problems underlying the political implications of the Rome Treaty? To my own knowledge there has been considerable debate already in the Parliament of the Six concerning these. The Taoiseach obviously has seen a copy of this document, which may or may not have been leaked to the Press.
Speech!
It would be of considerable advantage to us to see this document so that we might inform ourselves adequately of the trend of thought in the Community of the Six which we are proposing to join.
I agree it would be a great advantage to us to know what is going on in the Committee. But there is no means of knowing that and, in so far as I have any knowledge of it, it is from newspaper reports. Presumably they were available equally to every Deputy. In any event, it would be misleading now to publish anything officially here since it seems that the first text has been withdrawn and has been replaced by another text which nobody outside the Committee has yet seen.
Could the Taoiseach not make available copies of the Parliamentary discussion in the Six concerning the Fouchet Committee?
I presume they are available in the Library.
Could the Taoiseach not make sure they are available to Deputies who require them?
They are available only in the official languages of the Committee of the Six, namely German and French. It would be a considerable advantage if the deliberations of the Parliament of the Six on vital points were translated so that we could see and understand what exactly is the current opinion of the Six.
I shall give some thought to that. It is a problem for us at the moment that all the documents issued by the community or the institutions of the Community are in the official languages of the Community. The Community itself has no machinery for translating them into either English or Irish.