Professor Gavin Barrett:

It is an interesting development, and it shows that other national parliaments have not given up in their efforts to influence the shape of this proposal. I do not believe that kind of initiative would have been taken if the subsidiarity early warning mechanism was not there. There is therefore a kind of penumbra of other things that are going on as a result of the subsidiarity mechanism. We can look forward to national parliaments seeking to throw their weight around a bit more at European level, as well they should, in relation to various matters. An issue for this committee is then to consider how it can throw its weight around a bit more. One way I would suggest is that ideas count at European level. This is an idea that has been put in there. I do not know if that idea will be adopted but at least it is out there being observed and listened to all across the EU. If we compare the reasoned opinion that was offered by the Oireachtas with other reasoned opinions, it was a significant document, but it was also relatively brief. I wonder if we could throw in more ideas. Where would we get those ideas from? The inter-parliamentary exchange, for instance, other opinions are being put up there, and there is a wealth of ideas and suggestions and cross-fertilisation that could be used by the various parliaments, including this one. Resources are very tight but there are some ways in which that can be compensated for by using the ideas of others.