Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I join the Chair in complimenting the work Senator O’Reilly has done at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and in all his previous work in that body. I was in Strasbourg last week for a meeting of the Committee of Ministers. It was wonderful to see the Parliamentary Assembly represented there by the current president. It is such a hugely significant body because of its interaction with the candidate states, which are not part of the EU, as well as because of the overall thrust of where Europe as a Continent is going. Of course, its history goes back some 75 years and we will be celebrating that anniversary this year.

I refer to the jewel of the Council of Europe which, of course, is the European Court of Human Rights, although I know it is not aligned with the work that is happening here. We are so very proud that the president of the European Court of Human Rights, Síofra O’Leary, had such an excellent term. I will take two minutes to compliment her work on the European Court of Human Rights. Through her administrative reforms of that court, she has brought the docket down significantly, making it more effective and efficient than it ever had been before, so that the citizens of the 46 countries in Europe are able to access human rights remedies through the European Court of Human Rights.

I was very proud to be told by the president of the European Court of Human Rights that Ireland only has three cases before it. The number has come down considerably, and that is a reflection of the work that has been done in Ireland, as well as the value of the European Court of Human Rights. She gave me the examples of Croatia and Slovenia which, because these countries are members of the European Union, given the focus on the rule of law and on political institutional development, have considerably brought down the number of cases that are before the European Court of Human Rights. This is a reasonable reflection of the quality of political institutions. There are always a couple of variables at the edge, but it is important to say that. I mention this because the role of political institutions in the quality of democracy is important and that is why the work of this committee is important.

This committee sits alongside the sectoral committees in the same way that I, as Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, sit alongside the different sectoral departments at a European level, as well as the detailed work they do. In many cases, we perform a similar function in terms of the EU sitting alongside some of the more detailed work that is being done at the different committees. That does not take away from the political institutional importance of what this committee is doing or of the necessity for that additional scrutiny. This is for a couple of different reasons, one of which, as members have said, is that subsidiarity is a core principle of the EU. I have always been of the view that the democratic legitimacy of the overall Union and its work is enhanced through subsidiarity. We must never forget that. Whether as local political institutions or national political institutions, we must constantly look at what more we can do to enhance those principles.

The work of this committee will be important not just in terms of principles, but also in terms of practicality. As Senators Higgins and Joe O’Reilly have said, we must now get into the detail of the different statutory instruments and different processes. I look forward to being an ally to the committee in that work. I would never regard the work of this committee as in any way delaying. I would like to simply remove that as a concept. This is a proactive committee that can work to enhance scrutiny and efficiency in this State. Certainly, I do not want to be in a position where, because of a lack of granularity, detail or efficiency, we incur infringement costs. I do not want a delay in transposing EU legislation for our citizens. The work of this committee can enhance that.

I am the chair of the interdepartmental committee of EU engagement. There are quite long titles in Europe. The purpose of that committee is for Departments to provide me with exceptional detail about what is happening with each statutory instrument. It will cover what, when and how things are going on. I expect that this committee will enhance my work and my ability to do that level of scrutiny behind closed doors with the different Departments. This committee will help me to do that. If members of the committee have concerns, I ask them to tell me so I can advance them with different Departments. There may be questions of timing, such as in the example that Senator Higgins gave of the committee on finance, where the communication simply came too late. I need to know about that. I need to know the more detailed experience because, as members will know, I will not necessarily get it from other sources. I would ask the committee to work with me. My door will always be open to this committee. Unless I am actively in Brussels or doing something else, it will always be open to this committee to work with it. I ask the members to communicate with me and raise concerns, no matter how small they are. It is the management of the small things that sets the tone and culture for how the bigger things are managed, as members have correctly identified. I think that is probably sufficient, Chair.