Professor Ursula Männle:

I thank the Vice Chairman for his opening remarks and for the opportunity to meet the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs of the Irish Parliament. We are delegation from the Bavarian State Parliament and five parties are represented in the Parliament. All five parties are represented within to the delegation visiting today.

It is probably fair to say that there is broad consensus among the members of the delegation on European affairs. We might differ significantly on other policy issues but, when it comes to European affairs, there is shared consensus among members of the delegation.

I will briefly introduce the members of the delegation and refer to the parties they represent in order that when they make a contribution, committee members will have some idea of the position from which they are speaking. Mr. Linus Forster is a member of the Social Democratic Party and also a speaker on youth issues in the parliament. Mr. Alexander Radwan is a member of the majority party, the CSU, Christian Social Union, party, and has been a Member of the European Parliament for ten years. Mr. Konrad Kobler is also a member of the Christian Social Union party and has been a member of the federal state parliament for 30 years. He is the speaker on social affairs within the parliament. Mr. Joachim Hansich is a member of the Free Electors' Group, a group of independents, and represents that part of the political spectrum. He has worked for many years as lord mayor of a significant local community. Ms Anne Franke is a member of the Green Party and specifically interested in agricultural policies and consumer protection. Mr. Thomas Dechant is a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party. This is his first term in the parliament and he works on the agricultural committee. Ms Renate Dodell is not a member of our committee, but she is vice chair of the CSU parliamentary party in the federal state parliament. She has a keen interest in European affairs and we have invited her to join us and observe the discussion and exchanges. I am the chair of the European committee and also a member of the government party, the CSU. Mr. Dechant is vice chair of our committee.

The Vice Chairman has alluded to the fact that our visit to Ireland coincides with the Irish Presidency of the European Union. Members of our European committee traditionally visit countries that hold the EU Presidency to see what political priorities they are pursuing. Beyond this, we are also very interested in finding out what efforts are being made - we have seen that Ireland has made significant efforts in this regard - to emerge from the crisis that has been evident in this country and what efforts have been made to understand the political context for Ireland in emerging from the crisis.

Before entering the more substantive discussion on current political developments, I would like to ask about the role of the Irish Parliament in the context of European policy. Members of the joint committee will be aware that the Lisbon treaty has placed greater significance on the contribution of national parliaments in how decisions are taken and carried through within the European context. The committee might also be aware that in the Federal Republic of Germany there has been a court ruling by the country's highest court, the Constitutional Court, supporting a request of the parliament for sufficient information to make a contribution to political decisions. That court ruling found against the government of the day. The ruling, as well as the Lisbon treaty provisions, strengthen the role of national parliaments and, for that matter, federal state parliaments within the European policy context. To what extent is the Irish Parliament at the table when it comes to policy decisions taken in the European Union and political decisions taken in Ireland within a European context? Does it believe it is heard before such decisions are taken?