I understand that today is the Taoiseach's birthday. Sin an rud a léigh mé agus má tá sin ceart, lá breithe sona duit. An bhfuil sin ceart?

Is that the Deputy's question? It is the shortest question I have heard yet. Please proceed.

It is the straightest answer I ever got. I also understand that the Taoiseach's birthday wish is to be the Taoiseach who regains Irish sovereignty. Yet the austerity treaty he is supporting means handing away more and more sovereignty to unelected officials in Europe. Tá an conradh seo lochtach, tá a fhios ag an Taoiseach sin. Baineann sé go hiomlán le austerity agus is léir nach bhfuil maitheas ar bith sa chonradh do na daoine. As the Taoiseach will know, that is the view of more and more opinion makers in this State and across the European Union. There is nothing in the treaty to stimulate growth or job creation. When the current bailout programme ends, and if the treaty goes through, it will mean a further €6 billion worth of austerity for Irish citizens. It will mean more cuts to front line education and community services, as well as more stealth taxes like the household charge, septic tank charges and water charges.

Today is the Taoiseach's birthday and I understand that it is also the Tánaiste's birthday.

They have 114 years between them.

The Taoiseach may not know this, but a Republic was proclaimed in this city on this day 96 years ago.

An bhfuil aon ceist agat?

The leaders of that Republic proclaimed "the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies". So how does the Taoiseach square the principles of the Proclamation with the treaty, which will put control of Irish destinies into the hands of unelected officials in the European Court of Justice and the European Commission?

First of all, I am grateful to Deputy Adams for his generosity in recognising that we all have birthdays. In this Government, there are two such occasions on this date.

Two for the price of one.

I recognise that my emergence into the world occurred on the same April date when, in 1916, those who emerged from the ruins of the GPO declared the Proclamation as the country took its first fledgling steps towards economic and political independence. I remind Deputy Adams that the first article of this treaty says its purpose is to bring about stability and growth. I do not share Deputy Adams's view on this at all.

On many occasions in the coming weeks, Deputy Adams and I will be in close proximity to each other in terms of arguing for and against this treaty. I will be asking Deputy Adams about the consequences of the vote he is proposing. He has not spelled out for anybody where this country will get its investment from or how public services will be paid for. Deputy Adams's proposition would be a slap in the face for Irish workers.

Week after week, I see strong lines of investment coming into this country. They are coming here because the companies and plants that decide to invest in Ireland have confidence in our country.

They come here to make a profit.

Does Deputy Tóibín not want them?

I do.

They also have confidence in our workforce and people generally. They recognise that, even with the underlying Eurostat figures, this country is heading in the right direction. I am happy that Europe has responded to, amongst others, this Government's promptings for an agenda of growth, jobs, investment and career opportunities. That is where we want to be.

On 31 May, the electorate must be fully informed about what this treaty actually does and what it is not about. When they make their decision, they will be voting on the future of our country. It is our decision alone; it has nothing to do with the elections in the Netherlands, regional elections in Germany, Serbia or Greece, or the outcome of the second round of the French presidential election. This is Ireland's decision alone. We cannot prevent this fiscal treaty from moving forward. Some 25 EU countries have signed on for it and will all ratify it. We choose to do so by referendum. The Government and others who support the referendum, will see to it that the people are given the fullest information about the critical decision they must make.

As I have stated on many occasions, on 1 January next year the train for Europe's future leaves the station.

It went long ago.

We want to be on that train with a level and stream of confidence. Every worker I meet in plants throughout the country understands the value of a job and of keeping the level of confidence very high and is prepared to vote for that future. It is not only about the Government; it is about the country and those who come behind us. When Deputy Adams asks his next question, perhaps he might tell me on my birthday-----

Do you want a present?

-----where Sinn Féin will get the money to run services and how it proposes to continue this level of confidence for foreign investment? Deputy Adams has not answered this question and the reason he has not done so is because he is unable to do so.

The thing about today is that I get to ask the questions and the Taoiseach gets to avoid them. The train is leaving but it is going in the wrong direction. I would like the Government to defend austerity and argue why it is right for us because the Government does not do so. It dodges it all the time.

You do it up North and we will do it here.

Ask the French people how they feel about it.

What is very interesting is that this is entirely appropriate for a right-wing conservative party such as Fine Gael which supports privatisation, cuts in public services, the race to the bottom and further dominance of the free market.

And you are not doing the same up North?

I cannot let the Taoiseach's birthday pass without paying credit to his greatest achievement, which is to get the Labour Party leadership to agree to this agenda. In Brussels, Labour Party MEPs voted against measures that are now part of the austerity treaty. One described austerity as a recipe for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. Another, Mr. Proinsias De Rossa-----

May we have the Deputy's question please?

-----said these measures will kill growth, destroy jobs and derail recovery. I wish the Taoiseach a very happy birthday.

Go raibh maith agat.

Fáilte romhat. Breithlá sona duit. Will he tell us how he got the Labour Party leadership to support an agenda that will mean more cuts, more stealth taxes, will do nothing to tackle the jobs crisis and is giving away our sovereignty?

I will tell the Tánaiste of Deputy Adams's good wishes to him also. For a long time I have been a proponent of the argument that the agenda of Europe needs to focus on investment, growth, jobs and career opportunities. As I stated, I am very glad Europe has responded to my promptings on behalf of the Government and the people and the promptings of other Prime Ministers to do the same. The next meeting will deal with youth unemployment and the June meeting will deal with small and medium enterprises.

They will all be gone.

The fact of the matter is that we are borrowing €16,000 million and there is only one source for it which has set down conditions for the money. We cannot continue not dealing with this problem. Deputy Adams seems to ignore this. Whether one has troika analysis or not we must deal with the problem here, and this is about good housekeeping and putting in place rules, conditions and regulations that will not allow in future the type of activity we had the past. We are not going back there. We want to see, and I am sure Deputy Adams does also even from his political perspective, that we run our affairs properly and in order like any household in the country and where we are spending much more than we are taking in we have a problem. In this sense the treaty is not an end to prosperity in itself; it is but one mechanism on the path to dealing with a return to growth of the European economies and the capacity of other economies to purchase. We export 80% of what we produce. In that sense the condition is that we must sort out our own problems ourselves.

Why does the Taoiseach not vote "No"? Let us sort out our problems.

Long before this referendum became a reality the Government set out its view that we should legislate for good rules, proper housekeeping and good discipline here that would not allow this to happen again.

I meet companies such as PayPal, Eli Lilly, Baxter and Microsoft who invest here week after week. Last week, Mylan Corporation had €500 million on the line for jobs in Baldoyle and Galway. They invest because they have confidence in our country and people and we want to keep this confidence very strong.