Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach. I begin by welcoming the increase in representation for the European Parliament on foot of yesterday's announcement that Ireland's representation would go from 13 seats to 14 seats, with the Midlands-North West getting this additional seat. This will be a big asset to our country in the years ahead.

I am pleased to attend today’s meeting. I am joined by officials from the EU division of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Tim Harrington, director, institutions and co-ordination unit, and Stephen Ryan, deputy director. I found the outcome of the last invitation to meet with the committee, on 4 July, to be useful as an introduction to the important work it undertakes, namely, the scrutiny of the transposition of EU directives across Departments. I understand that today’s agenda is to primarily cover directives adopted between June 2022 and May 2023. I understand the committee may also wish to receive an update on the recent European Court of Justice judgement on the habitats directive.

Following the committee’s request, information notes have been provided by seven Departments on the 15 directives agreed under the co-decision process by the Council and the European Parliament and which were published between June 2022 and May of this year. The majority of EU directives have a two-year transposition deadline. The 15 directives in question will therefore be transposed into Irish law on various dates over the next two years or so, with the majority having a deadline in Autumn 2024.

I am happy to see that already three of these directives have been transposed. The relevant statutory instruments, along with information notes, have been provided to the committee. The three directives in question are: EU Directive 2022/1999 on the transport of dangerous goods by road; EU Directive 2022/2561 on the qualifications and periodic training of drivers of certain road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers; and EU Directive 2022/993 on the minimum level of training for seafarers.

In line with procedures, the statutory instruments concerned were laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas by the Department of Transport and the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment respectively. I have been informed by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications that Directive 2022/2555 on cybersecurity will be transposed by primary legislation. As such, it falls outside the remit of this committee.

I turn now to deal in detail with the remaining 11 directives. Three of these, all under the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, are due to be transposed by the end of this year. These are Directive 2023/959 concerning greenhouse gas emissions allowance trading within the Union; Directive 2022/958 concerning emission reduction targets in the aviation sector; and Directive 2022/2380 regarding radio equipment or, essentially, standardisation of phone and tablet chargers. I am happy to see that the Department has already provided the draft statutory instruments intended to transpose these three directives to the committee. I hope that these, along with the information notes provided, have been of help to the committee in forming a view on the intended means of transposition in these three areas.

The remaining directives are due, in the main, to be transposed from summer 2024 onwards. The five Departments responsible - enterprise, equality, finance, justice and transport - have provided information notes and have indicated that they will provide draft statutory instruments to the committee at the earliest possible opportunity. At least one may be provided in the coming weeks, with the others following in the new year. I am pleased at the responsiveness of the Departments concerned and that information notes and draft statutory instruments have been provided in a timely manner, or that a commitment has been made to deliver same well in advance of transposition deadlines.

We can discuss the directives concerned in more detail later in the meeting, as the committee wishes, but I would note the benefits which will flow for citizens, businesses and all of society as these come into effect. The directive on the harmonisation of radio equipment, which will see a uniform charger being introduced for all types of mobile phones and tablets, is but one of these.

As part of my role as the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, I chair the interdepartmental committee on EU engagement. This consists of senior officials from across Government Departments, as well as from the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. This generally meets on a quarterly basis, most recently on 4 October last, and will meet again in early December. Its standing agenda includes reviewing Ireland’s performance in transposing EU directives. This is measured by the European Commission across all member states under the Single Market scoreboard. This measures the transposition of EU directives on a bi-annual basis, at end-May and end-November each year, which are termed the summer and winter Single Market scoreboards. The target set by the European Commission is that a member state should have not more than five directives outstanding to be transposed at each six-monthly deadline. The expectation is that most of these, if not all, would then be transposed in the following six months, and this generally occurs.

For the coming winter scoreboard, I am happy that only two new directives are awaiting transposition and they have deadlines between 1 June and 31 November this year. These concern the Trans-European Transport Network and vehicle hire. I understand the Department of Transport is actively working on closing off these two directives as soon as possible.

I mention this because it is the Government’s firm resolve to continue to improve the transposition of EU directives. The aim is that all directives due for transposition should be completed before the next Irish Presidency of the EU on 1 July 2026. I should add that Ireland achieved a zero transposition score before our previous EU Presidency in 2013, one of the handful of member states ever to achieve this, before or since. While member states certainly aim to get all EU directives transposed on time, there are usually a few directives which cannot be completed by the bi-annual deadlines. Nevertheless, I have given Departments the aim, for Presidency 2026, of improving our transposition rate so we replicate the zero score again at that time. In the interim, the aim will be, wherever possible, to at least match the European Commission’s target of not more than five directives being late for any scoreboard. For the winter 2023 scoreboard, we have already bettered this, with only two cases outstanding.

I should also refer to the committee’s request sent to departmental Secretaries General on 3 October last seeking details of various elements of transposition. I hope that, by now, most, if not all, Departments have responded. If there is any remaining, my office will be happy to reach out to those Departments. I hope the committee will find these returns helpful in building an appreciation of the demands on Departments generally in transposing EU directives and that, for the most part, these are achieved on time. Should the committee wish to receive a brief update on the habitats court case, I am happy to provide this.

In conclusion, I look forward to our discussions this afternoon. I hope the detail which I have provided in my opening remarks and will provide in our following discussions will confirm to the committee the effort and priority which is being given to transposition of EU directives across Departments, and the importance which I attach to this in my role as Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs.