Government must commit to process

There were welcome signs yesterday that the Government has at last decided to get involved in the Convention on the Future of Europe.

Just days ago ministers were arrogantly threatening to behave like dogs in the manger refusing to participate in the most important debate of the decade, but saying they would exercise their veto on any proposal to come from that debate that they did not like.

Initially the excuse given for the Government's failure to participate in the convention was that they did not wish to confuse Irish citizens in the run up to the second vote on the Nice Treaty.

But with even that flimsy excuse out of the way, there were no signs Ireland was ready to play its role in shaping the future of the country's single most important alliance.

After the media and a number of politicians exposed the Government's Eurosceptical position, it finally began to take an active interest.

However, several of the working groups have already concluded and Ireland has lost a vital opportunity to influence the future shape of the EU.

The Government's failure to properly think through the implications of the convention was exposed yesterday during the rush to be seen to participate.

First it appointed Ray McSharry as its representative to the convention knowing he could not serve the full term. They then replaced him with Minister of State with responsibility for European Affairs Dick Roche.

However, the official response of the Government to the European Commission's important submission yesterday came from the Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen. There was a welcome change of tone in his statement and Mr Cowen said he will be making further detailed contributions to the process at an early stage.

One wonders if this is a belated attempt to follow the example of Britain, France and Germany, who recently appointed senior ministers as leaders of their convention teams. However, it should be pointed out that these ministers attend convention sessions.