Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. I will focus on Mr. Whelan's presentation and the need for changes in the system of governance. I served in the European Parliament and am familiar with the system. I have tried to get people more involved in the development of policy and particularly what is happening at European level. I am glad to say we have adopted some new strategies, and four MEPs have addressed the Seanad. Today, Ms Emer Costello, MEP, came to the Seanad, and Ms Phil Prendergast, MEP, Mr. Gay Mitchell, MEP, and Ms Mairead McGuinness, MEP, have all made presentations to the Seanad on what they are doing in Europe. I agree with Mr. Whelan that we need to reform how we conduct business. I have a major issue with regard to directives and regulations coming through without any real scrutiny. This was brought home to me recently at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children during our discussion about a directive on medical devices. It was about to get the rubber stamp from the committee when I asked if anybody had consulted the medical device companies. It turned out there had been no consultation at national level with these companies, so the committee agreed to write a letter to the medical devices organisation to find out its attitude. From my recollection of working at European level on directives and regulations, I know we have more than 90 permanent representatives who work in Brussels watching regulations and directives, but there is no feedback to local level in Ireland. All of our permanent representatives have good expertise but there is no local input. I agree there is a need for reform, but I am not sure whether this is what Mr. Whelan had in mind in his call for reform.

I have a very strong view on the effective use of the Seanad. This week only one Bill was discussed in the Seanad, while there is a significant body of regulations and directives coming from Europe. I have made a proposal that we set aside two days per month to deal with EU regulation. I know that among Members there is no great level of agreement on that suggestion. Will Mr. Whelan comment on how he thinks the Dáil and Seanad could work more effectively in dealing with EU directives and regulations?

The second issue I wish to raise is the delay in implementing directives when they are passed. Let me give the example of the cross-border health care directive, which was passed on 9 March 2011, following which we had 30 months in which to implement it. Now, in 2013, we have only six months remaining in which to implement it. Why do we always wait until the last minute to implement a directive and then find we are not prepared when we do try to implement it?

The third issue is the lack of regulation that existed when we set up the monetary union. There was also a degree of trust at European level with regard to how Ireland did its business. The best example I can give is that of a German building company that came to Ireland on a €10 million contract. When €1 million of work was done without anything being signed, I was asked in a private capacity to come in and sort out the mess. I sorted out the mess by getting the €1 million collected and getting all the contract documentation signed. When I asked those involved why they had acted in this manner, they said they were told when they came to Ireland on the €10 million contract that they should take everyone at their word. That is an example of the degree of trust at European level towards Ireland. There is an attitude that there was a lack of regulation, of supervision and of checks and balances in Ireland with regard to how we did our business. Those things were also lacking at European level. The European attitude was that everyone in Ireland should be taken at his or her word. We are now paying the price for all of that.