Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach is aware, I was recently elected to the position of Cathaoirleach of the Seanad Select Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments. We are having our first public meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, on Tuesday week in early July. There are a lot of technical issues for the committee to consider in putting together the protocols with the Department of Foreign Affairs in respect of referring directives and statutory instruments, in establishing what is a reasonable timeframe for the transposition of directives into Irish law, and in terms of us making the necessary recommendations on scrutiny. In many ways, you would describe our committee as being similar to air traffic control. When we get the information note, we will examine it and will recommend to the various sectoral committees whether scrutiny is deemed necessary. We may deem just a section of a directive as requiring scrutiny. My concern, and that of the committee, is that the terms of reference are very tight. What we are looking for is a commitment from the Government that there will be a broad, liberal approach to the work we do. We are still trying to find our feet. There is a bit of concern that there will be pushback, particularly from certain sections within the Civil Service, to the effect that the requests we are making are outside our remit. As a country, we are an outlier when it comes to examining and scrutinising EU directives. We have a lot of catching up to do. What I am hoping to get from the Taoiseach is a commitment that the Government will work in a positive way with the committee and will help and support us in pushing the boundaries to ensure that what we do and the work we do is effective.