Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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Since this is our first public session, I believe it appropriate to congratulate Senator Conway on becoming Chair of this committee. He brings great personal ability and a lot of parliamentary experience to the role. I wish him well in the role. It is important that we get up and running fast and get the job on the road. We will learn and develop as we go. We cannot spend the entire month or two navel-gazing. We have to get on with the job and work from there on. I will turn to one or two technicalities in a minute, however.

I also welcome the Minister of State. I applaud the way in which he has embraced this new Ministry and the energy and competencies he brings to it. I had personal reason to see the work he did in his previous Ministry and it was very impressive. I am delighted it is continuing. We are fortunate to have somebody of the Minister of State's ability in this critical role.

At this first public meeting, it may merit recalling that European directives and regulations have modernised Ireland since we joined the EU and that those directives have turned us into a modern, diverse, accepting, understanding and broadly-based society where everybody has a very special dignity and a special role and where the worth of every individual is seen and fully transferred. That is particularly true of the role the EU has had in women's liberation and gender equality. A great many directives, regulations and rulings of the ECJ have been transformative for this country. In a sense, that underlines the critical importance of what we are doing and the great honour it is to be here doing this. We should feel privileged in that regard.

Apropos of Senator Daly's remarks, I noticed that, in the Minister of State's statement, he said "the decision of Government was that the focus of the new arrangements should be on draft statutory instruments at the start of the process, that is, as soon as possible after the directives have been published", which is where we begin the process of transposition. He indicated a willingness to try to achieve that. It is a reasonable position and we should progress from that point onwards. That is good and I welcome and acknowledge it.

In his opening remarks, he also made the point regarding a situation that could arise. It is not the ambition to bring about such a situation; quite the contrary, we are here because we have great regard for the European project and really want to see the implementation of directives and regulations to the betterment of our society. However, the Minister of State is right to caution against any unnecessary delay. The committee would have a negative effect were it to be used as a delaying mechanism. That is not our intention. We intend to propel things forward, to improve things and to increase public awareness rather than to make an effort to delay matters. The Minister of State strikes a cautionary note and I agree with him. He might comment further in that regard.

My colleagues, Senators Ruane and Martin, and others have made the reasonable request that we would seek ECJ rulings. There is nothing particularly revolutionary about asking to be made aware of rulings that are pertinent to the country as a matter of course. They may be pertinent because of a failure to fully transpose a directive or a failure to do so properly or because they relate to a defective regulation or statutory instrument. It is reasonable that we would get those rulings as a matter of course. I ask the Minister of State to comment on that.

I will finish on my next point. It was interesting that the Conference on the Future of Europe and Ursula von der Leyen have put a focus on citizen consultation. That is the way to go because that is how we can get over the democratic deficit and get buy-in to the institutions, directives, regulations and statutory instruments. For that reason, I humbly suggest that, insofar as the Minister of State can advance the concept of citizen consultation, almost following the model of our citizens' assemblies, within Europe and encourage its development as a new European phenomenon, it would be good to do so. I would be interested in his comments on that.

I am excited about this evening. It is a great evening. I will finish quickly but it is important to make this point. I am becoming less and less willing to announce this recently but, no matter how much I would like to alter it, it remains the case that I was born in 1955. I lived part of my life in the Ireland that existed before what was then the European Economic Community, now the European Union. I knew that Ireland intimately. I then saw how Ireland evolved, progressed and changed under the EEC and then the EU. It has been wonderful. I am very proud and happy to be a member of a committee that will be part of the further development of that process. It will not be a negative part or, as the Minister of State has mentioned, a part that holds things up or a part that seeks to thwart the process. Rather, it will give a constructive and positive input. I believe that we can do that. It is a great evening. We should be very proud to be here. Those who take being here for granted do not realise the importance of what we are doing.