Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

There are two strands to the scrutiny process. One strand relates to the questioning of Ministers before the General Affairs and External Relations Council meetings in Europe. The Minister comes before the sub-committee and is cross-examined on issues arising at future meetings. The other strand is the scrutiny of documents and regulations. The Department of Foreign Affairs co-ordinates these and they are sent to the sub-committee. I meet the officials before the documents are presented to the committee and then they are delegated to the relevant sectoral committees. These committees examine them and their implications for the country and they make a judgment on the contents of those reports. That is fairly in-depth scrutiny. My only reservation concerns the resources being made available to civil servants attached to the Sub-Committee on European Scrutiny, who face a horrendous amount of work.

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