Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The Joint Committee on European Affairs took the trouble to invite the public to ask questions. This really is in the way of scrutiny. I would like to put the following question to the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, whose presence is most welcome. It relates to the decision making process which is at the core of the democratic legitimacy of the entire European Union and Ireland's role in it. The question is in section 5 of the questions submitted by the public under the title, Decision Making. The question reads as follows:

Referring to the decision by Foreign Ministers of the EU to withhold any further payments to the Palestinian people following their recent elections, I wish to ask:

(a) Who voted for the payment to stop and who voted against it?

(b) How was the decision made? Was it with a single majority or a qualified majority?

(c) Is it possible when decisions have been made for the public to get a press release on who voted and how, as all of these meetings are held in camera and there is no transparency?

[The final part of this question is most pertinent to what is happening in the Middle East at present.]

(d) When will decisions of such importance for all of Europe be debated in the European Parliament?

I do not know if the Minister was at that meeting. I suspect he probably was not because the issue relates to foreign affairs. However, this question could apply to many issues. The European Union had been sustaining and supporting the Palestinian Authority as part of the quartet but a decision was made by the Foreign Ministers to suspend payment because of the position of Hamas — the recently elected government of the Palestinian Authority — which refused to recognise the legitimacy of the state of Israel and which vowed and is prepared to physically eliminate it. This citizen's question relates to how the decision was made by the Foreign Ministers and how the formality of its communication was conveyed to the wider public. Is there a voting list?

Anybody can come into this Chamber after any debate and by viewing the necessary records see which way any of us have voted here. The same question is being posed in regard to how decisions are reached in Europe. I do not know if the Minister of State is in a position to answer this question.

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