Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

Since day one of our EU membership, the Houses of the Oireachtas have been to the forefront of the legislative effort to align our national laws with EC requirements. Almost every Minister of every Government since then has brought forward some measures to give effect to European law. Before it ever comes to that, Irish officials and Ministers are completely involved on a daily basis in the complex negotiations process which gives rise to EC law.

In recent years, we have made great strides in the modernisation of arrangements for scrutiny of EU business here in Leinster House. In 2002, the Government, with the agreement of both Houses, brought forward the Oireachtas Scrutiny Act which established the Sub-committee on European Scrutiny. I applaud the work of that sub-committee which has been in operation for almost five years under the able and dedicated chairmanship of Deputy Allen. The sub-committee scrutinises draft legislative proposals across the full range of EU activities. This scrutiny almost invariably occurs before decisions are taken by the Council of Ministers in Brussels.

Officials in all Government Departments brief the sub-committee in writing on draft legislative proposals within four weeks of their formal circulation. This is a hands-on and practical approach to monitoring European legislation. Ministers and officials are also required to be available to provide additional material and to brief committees of the Houses. Government Departments are required to produce reports every six months on developments in the European Union within their policy areas.

As Deputies are aware, I and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, are available to brief the Joint Committee on European Affairs in advance of almost every General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting. I enjoy the robust and frank exchanges with members of that committee. This practice often serves to help myself and the Minister to reflect the concerns of members in finalising our policy positions at the various Councils.

One of my responsibilities as Minister of State involves chairing the interdepartmental co-ordinating committee on European affairs. At our regular meetings, I and senior officials from all Government Departments review how Ireland is doing in transposing EC law and meeting our membership obligations. Thanks to the efforts of all Departments, we are making satisfactory progress and the latest figures, released last week, reflect this fact. The Bill will help significantly to speed up further the rate of Ireland's transposition of EU directives.

EU affairs are very much a part of the day-to-day work of the Oireachtas and effective procedures are in place for facilitating full Oireachtas involvement. When the draft constitutional treaty is implemented, as we hope it will be, it will provide for a further enhancement of the role of national parliaments in EU business.

We are putting in place revised arrangements to implement EC measures fairly and transparently via secondary legislation. Secondary legislation has been used for this purpose by all Governments since 1973. The Supreme Court has found that we need to change the way we do this, but the Bill does not mean any reduction in Oireachtas scrutiny arrangements.

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