Professor Gavin Barrett:

I wish there was, but the publishers only gave me three or four copies. I will synopsise it.

On how we are doing, Ireland used to be categorised fairly as a slow adapter, but that has changed and we have improved during the years. That improvement has been aided by various measures such as the reforms introduced and legislation passed after the rejection of the Nice treaty. That treaty and its subsidiarity reforms led to much reform in Ireland and elsewhere through which parliaments received more powers. However, some restrictions apply to the Irish Parliament. Under the electoral system, members will not be rewarded electorally for the excellent work being done by this committee. Under the system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote, constituency work is always better rewarded than committee work. However, the work done by this committee and others is of vital importance.

On what could be done, there could be greater involvement on matters such as the Commission's work programme and the European semester. A greater effort could be put into trying to influence things at European level. Getting in early enough to do so is vital. Brexit is of great importance. There should be more discussion of how well prepared people are for a no-deal Brexit which we might be facing. Are we prepared for such an eventuality in terms of customs? How well prepared are the farming industry and employers? It would be very useful for representatives of such groups to be brought before an Oireachtas committee to communicate their concerns and views in that regard. I acknowledge that a certain amount of work has been done in that regard, but perhaps more could be done.

Like every other parliament, the Oireachtas must decide on what it wishes to concentrate. Dr. Schön-Quinlivan mentioned the political dialogue with the Commission. Does the Parliament wish to participate in it? It may think it is not worth its while. Some of the most active parliaments such as that in Denmark and the Eduskunta in Finland do not participate because they have decided to concentrate their energies elsewhere. Every parliament must decide for itself. Each has limited resources and must decide what it most wants to do. Some thought should be given to the areas on which the Oireachtas should concentrate.

I am somewhat concerned by the relative lack of control over Ministers in deciding things in the European Union. As members are aware, we do not have a scrutiny reserve system such as that in place in the United Kingdom or a mandate system such as that in place in Denmark and Finland. The general result is that Irish Ministers operate on a very long leash, with very little parliamentary scrutiny. The Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Helen McEntee, reports to the Oireachtas on some Council meetings, as has been the practice for a succession of Parliaments, but the Oireachtas has no control over decisions made at many other Council meetings. I do not know what the solution is to that problem because there is little pressure exerted by the Legislature or the Executive to introduce a scrutiny reserve system. Certain committees have recommended its introduction, but it has never been done. I understand the motivation behind it, but it results in one of the primary tasks of national parliaments - controlling the Executive, in particular on what happens at Council meetings - not being carried out. There is further detail on that issue in my book.

Deputy Colm Brophy raised concerns about central and eastern European countries. Unfortunately, there has been less leverage over them since they joined the European Union.

I am not sure it was possible to hold them out for longer than they were. They needed to be brought into NATO and the European Union quickly; therefore, there was a political imperative in that regard. It came with certain disadvantages and risks which we are seeing coming to fulfilment in the way described by the Deputy. We need to work out ways, of which perhaps funding is one, whereby we can get around the fact that the rule of law mechanisms in Article 7 of the treaty are manifestly inadequate, principally owing to the voting systems in place. There is no doubt that something must be done desperately. Perhaps funding is one of the ways whereby it might be done.

The Chairman asked about areas that could be redelegated. I was glad when Professor Schön-Quinlivan spoke first because it gave me a few minutes to think about it, but I have not succeeded in coming up with any area that should be redelegated. However, there are certain areas where the density of regulation must be reconsidered, for example, banking regulation. There was too little regulation of banking matters at European level before the crisis, but we probably have too much now. There is overlapping regulation, with a series of requirements that at this stage would frighten someone, if he or she was the legal adviser to a bank. There are certain areas where less density is badly needed. We must also examine how legislation is implemented. A relative of mine who is a farmer received a letter on one occasion telling him how much nitrogen his cattle were allowed to produce. It was set out in detail. It implemented a directive at European level, but that is not how one implements such a directive; therefore, that issue must be examined. Another matter that must be examined is implementation by statutory instruments. Vast quantities of European regulations are implemented here via statutory instrument and we are still not controlling it properly. We have to think of a mechanism for doing so. I do not have much advice to offer on redelegation, but there are certainly many other things we could consider.