Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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The secretariat has contacted the Departments about EU laws that are to be brought into Irish law. They are due within six months. Three Departments, namely the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, and the Department of Finance, have directives due to be brought into effect in December.

Since our last meeting, it was agreed that draft statutory instruments relating to EU laws would be automatically referred to the relevant committees. A number of these have since been brought to the attention of the relevant committees. A list has been circulated among members.

Three EU laws are due to be transposed by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment in December 2026, and these have been referred to the relevant committee. One is the product liability directive, which concerns consumer protection rights. We hope the relevant committee will take that up. Another concerns improving conditions for platform workers. That relates to people working in the online space, especially in the days of AI, and their working conditions and terms and conditions of employment. There is another on the standards for equality bodies. It is more technical. Directive (EU) 2024/2810 on multiple-vote share structures in companies is also technical. The first directive I outlined, concerning consumer protection, and the one on platform workers have been referred to the relevant committees.

There is a regulation related to the Department of Health concerning statistics on healthcare facilities, human resources and utilisation. The committee's terms of reference refer only to directives as opposed to regulations. This measure is due to be signed by the Minister. It is technical but much of it concerns the collection and utilisation of data. I propose that we send the regulation to the relevant health committee. That committee can consider whether it wishes to engage with it. As a rule, we do not generally deal with regulations of this kind, although it falls under the European Communities Act 1972. We generally do not deal with regulations, but we can pass the matter on to the relevant committee. Is that agreed? Agreed.

On possible fines imposed by the EU, a list of active infringement cases concerning the non-implementation or partial implementation of EU laws has been sent to members. Currently, there are 46 infringement cases and Ireland is subject to 16 of these. Letters of formal notice have issued. These are not yet at a stage where fines arise. Cases currently before the European courts relate to implementation rather than transposition of the directives. I refer to cases where the EU's judgment is that we have not brought the legislation in correctly. This is in the information packs sent to members. I take Senator Boyhan's point and we will get the information packs for the next meeting.

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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If the laws that have not yet been transposed are not transposed on time, will there be fines?

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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There are fines. We will try to include the likely fines in the information note.

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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The cost to the State is a very important issue and we need to have clarification on it. In this regard, Derrybrien entailed a cost to the State of €10,000 per day so we need to be very clear on whether there is a cost to the State or the Exchequer, particularly given the fact that there is a large volume of outstanding work.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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To go along with what Senator Rabbitte was saying, nothing angers the public at large more than unnecessary delay and unnecessary fines of any description. People just cannot understand that a member state could be fined. However, that is the sanction open to the EU.

As we develop our work on this committee and our systems, we will clearly get through things quicker and have greater clarity on the issues at stake. As Senator Rabbitte suggested, running in parallel to the traffic light system, with its red, amber and green light signals, two critical pieces of information will be vital in our work. Our work here is ultimately to have greater openness and transparency regarding European affairs, particularly in relation to some of these instruments. That would be a clever thing to do. It is something we could then put on a designated section of the website, or certainly include in our own communications strategy on the work of the committee.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I suggest, as we have already said, that we send the traffic light system update to the Chairs of all the committees so that they can see everything, along with information on infringements relating to the non-implementation or partial implementation of directives. We will also try to source information on the potential fines that might arise from those. Is that agreed?

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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That is a great suggestion. The Cathaoirleach is proposing to send the update to the committees, which is great, but we should encourage them to provide feedback. It is a two-way process. These are sectoral committees with specialist interests in particular topics that are relevant to this matter. We cannot have our hands and eyes over everything. It is not possible, given the vast amount of material. Given that the committees have a designated remit relevant to the proposal the Cathaoirleach is going to make, which I fully support, we should at least put on the record that we would welcome feedback as soon as possible after they receive the material and have had an opportunity to discuss it at their meetings. It is important that we have two-way engagement.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed?

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Agreed.

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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May I clarify something, if the Cathaoirleach does not mind? In support of what has been proposed, if the material is to be sent to the relevant Chairs of the sectoral committees, it should also go to the Chair of the Chairs committee. It should be a retained agenda item whenever the committees meet, be it weekly or monthly. If this is the case, they will see what is coming up weekly, who is trying to stay off the red list and the cost to the State of inaction related to their work.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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Yes. I have no problem with that. I seek clarification on whether the Cathaoirleach is sending to each committee a traffic light system proposal showing only what affects it or sending the full list.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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To make life easy, we will send the full list to everybody.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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I have a follow-up question. What can the committees actually do about this?

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Their role is to ensure a draft statutory instrument, or draft EU law that is about to be transposed into Irish legislation, is raised with them by the relevant Department before it is signed. That relates to the traffic light system and the timeline for the implementation of the EU laws. The other part relates to fines. The committees' role is to ensure that the Irish taxpayer does not get caught for a fine simply because of delays.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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What recourse is there?

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I refer to delays in engagement, to making sure that EU law, as the EU sees it, has been correctly transposed, and to making sure we work with those concerned on that. We have had examples of millions of euro having to be paid by the Irish taxpayer simply because deadlines were missed. That should not be the case. It is about the process.

Are we agreed on that? We will ask for feedback and send the material to the Chairs of the committees. I suggest that, in the autumn, we examine, by way of example and focus, the EU directive on driving licences and how the EU is trying to have a standardised system for itself, including Ireland, with implications for the recognition of licences from across the world. There is a campaign in this regard at the moment in the US. The current arrangements affect Irish people returning home. They make it very difficult for Irish people to return home from countries where they have lived for many years.

Some people literally have to sit the driving test again. Even if they have been driving for 30 years in another country and have a clean driving record that they can show, they still end up, in some instances, having to do that. It is a very practical example for people in Ireland. The work of this committee, with the transport committee and others, is asking them to make sure that they scrutinise this and suggest how we can make this driving licence system work for the best interests of citizens in Ireland, Irish people returning home, and people coming from other countries who will want to drive in Ireland and could be here for a couple of years, then end up having to do a driving test and paying a lot of money to sit that test, even though they may have a full licence from another country.

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome that. I do not wish to be a Debbie downer here at all, or a Moody Margaret, but there is no doubt that when we have to signal to one Department that there are good examples, and we have over 20 other Departments, it shows the gap, where the need for this committee is, and the lack of understanding within committees regarding the work of transposing EU directives.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Hopefully we will be able to bridge that gap. Unless anybody wants another meeting before the summer break, I do not intend for us to have another. We have quite a lot of work to get done over the summer regarding proposals here. I thank everybody for their work.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I know the Cathaoirleach and all of the committee will join me in wishing the Irish EU Presidency every success. It is a momentous occasion and a wonderful opportunity for Europe and for Ireland Inc. All of us in the Oireachtas are heading to Dublin Castle tomorrow. It is an exciting, challenging time. It is a time for us and the Government to crystallise and articulate our core beliefs. We are a republic. We have very strong principles. We play a rightful place in the European Union. One thing that we can all be very proud of with regard to the European barometer, all the statistics, surveys and analyses is that the Irish people at large are highly impressed with Europe. They are interactive with the European Union and supportive of it. May that continue to grow. May Europe continue to prosper. I wish everyone involved in the EU Presidency for the next six months every success.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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We wish everybody involved in the EU Presidency the best of luck, including those selected by this Parliament. Agriculture will be of interest to everybody in this Chamber, as will the Good Friday Agreement, the lessons to be learned from it, its ongoing implementation and what we can do to learn from others who struggle with many of the issues that still plague Northern Ireland, including paramilitarism and a divided society in many instances. Rectifying that is an ongoing process. Because of the support of the European Union and our friends across the Atlantic, we have managed to transform the island of Ireland for the better. I thank everybody for their participation.