Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister for that. I want to raise a number of points before I invite members to indicate. The committee has not been in operation for long, and we accept that, but the timeframe that has been given is very short considering these issues. Once a decision has been made to opt in under Article 3, there is no reverse gear. We will then be locked into any decision that has been made.

I am sure a number of members will also raise concerns about the position in respect of the agreement we are essentially being asked to vote in favour of in the Houses in the coming weeks because it has been restricted or classified by the EU, as we understand it. We have been told that members will have sight of the Council decision, but I want the Minister to clarify whether we will also have sight of the annexes that form part of the decision. I would appreciate if the Minister could comment on the appropriateness of a sovereign parliament being asked to vote on a document that members of the public, who we serve, will not have sight of.