Ireland will only grow and prosper in future if it helps the European Union to reform to meet new global challenges, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said today.
Ireland's positive attitude for decades to the EU has been central to what the country has achieved over 35 years of membership, Mr Ahern told a press conference.
"We have been at the core of the Union. We have helped drive its development," said Mr Ahern, who was one of the signatories to the treaty last December.
"In doing so we have transformed Ireland - improving livelihoods, building infrastructure and strengthening our national potential.
"The EU is an absolutely central part of our model of growth and prosperity - and we will only grow and prosper in the future if we help to reform the Union in the face of serious modern challenges," he said.
No campaigners have used "patently untrue" arguments to damage the treaty: "The tactic of the anti-treaty axis has been to try to cause as much confusion as possible with claims which are patently untrue. These efforts are now clearly discredited.
"Following the systematic rebuttal of their claims concerning tax, abortion and trade, they are now concentrating on the issue of our Commissioner.
"This is another phoney issue designed to confuse rather than persuade. As with previous efforts - it holds no water," he said.