A former taoiseach, a former cabinet minister and a leading campaigner against the Nice Treaty are among those nominated to represent the Oireachtas at the Convention on the Future of Europe.
The houses of parliament are entitled to two full representatives and two alternates. After several weeks of speculation, the names of the final panel emerged yesterday from reliable sources.
They are: Mr John Bruton, nominated by Fine Gael, whose alternate will be the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Mr Martin Cullen of Fianna Fáil; Mr Proinsias De Rossa, TD, MEP, of the Labour Party, whose alternate will be the Green TD for Dublin South-East, Mr John Gormley.
The Government is entitled to its own nominee, independent of the Oireachtas. He is former finance minister and European commissioner, Mr Ray MacSharry who was named by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, two weeks ago. Mr MacSharry's alternate is Mr Bobby McDonagh from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The nomination of Mr Bruton comes as no surprise since he was the choice of the main opposition party. However it was expected that the other full representative from the Oireachtas would be a member of Fianna Fáil or the Progressive Democrats. The choice of Mr De Rossa, a former minister for social welfare, is attributed to Labour Party assertiveness in the run-up to the general election.
Mr De Rossa's membership may lapse after the Dáil is dissolved since he is not a candidate in the general election. That could mean that Mr Gormley, a leading figure in the campaign against the Nice Treaty would be a full Oireachtas representative to the Convention. However, Labour may wish Mr De Rossa to remain, or could decide instead to nominate another Labour member.
The nomination of Mr Gormley follows calls by anti-Nice activists for one of their number to be sent to the Convention. The Taoiseach had already indicated that the panel would be "inclusive".
The Convention, chaired by former French president, Mr Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, will meet in Brussels on February 28th.