Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Dr. Cross to the meeting and thank him for coming. He has put a lot of work into this matter. I can only offer my own practical experience. It has been some time since I was in the Council of Ministers but I had responsibility, delegated by the Government, for the Single European Act, SEA. At that time, I was not fond of too much transparency and scrutiny. The British Government was represented there at the time, and we went around the table to deal with issues.

The situation then was that one went to Brussels the night before a Council meeting. One would be briefed by the Irish ambassador and the advisers from each Department relevant to the negotiations. The talks could concern an educational matter, such as recognition of qualifications. They could concern telecommunications or freedom of movement of goods and services. All sorts of derogations would be discussed. The United Kingdom Government worked very well with the Irish Government on issues in regard to which we were basically in the same situation. We worked together to get results. Frankly, I do not know if too much transparency would be of great benefit to the member states. However, I understand circumstances have changed and there is far more transparency now. The late Dr. Garret Fitzgerald once said to me that when writing his memoirs he was sorry he did not keep all the documents from European Union negotiations during the Irish Presidency of the EU Council. I said to him that nobody would want to read them, quite frankly, because they are boring documents, and there is an unbelievable amount of material. I understand there is a bit more transparency now.

I do not know whether audio or visual recordings are made of meetings of the Council of Ministers. Dr. Cross might be able to answer that. I do not know whether such recordings available, which would be very transparent. Many county councils, including Roscommon County Council, now record their entire meetings. What happens at that level is very transparent, and it has changed the structure of the council. I was watching a meeting the other day, and I was quite impressed by the contributions of the members when the cameras were there and the meeting was being published online. What is happening there now? I do not know the current situation. I was in Brussels when Dr. Cross was completing his PhD.

This is an interesting and complex area. People want more transparency. That said, different countries have different approaches. In the case of some Scandinavian countries, everything is agreed in discussions with Ministers before they go to Brussels. There are no doubts about their decisions. Denmark is one of the countries with very strong views. What the Danish Government does and does not do is very transparent. That is just my observation and I would like to hear Dr. Cross's views.