Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

The Deputy interrupts when I comment that his party has no republican values. They play on the word "republicanism". The French genuinely feel it when they say those words. When one meets French parliamentarians and those involved in politics in France, they genuinely believe in fraternity, equality and liberty. They live it. The Government here considers itself part of a republican Ireland, yet it is trying to pass a Bill that treats the Dáil with contempt, something it has done whenever it has been in power in the past two decades. It is attempting to debase the Dáil even further with its carry-on regarding freedom of information and the way it rams legislation through the House.

Fianna Fáil has reached the epitome of contempt for the Irish people when it is prepared to support a Bill that, if enacted, avoids even the rubber-stamping of legislation by this Parliament. If there is any indication that the party has been in power for too long, this is it. EU legislation should never be transposed by statutory instrument in the manner proposed by this Bill. In some respects, it is an indication of how this House often works and what happens to legislation here. It is only when Bills reach Second Stage or Committee Stage that concerns are expressed about their weaknesses. The Government seldom accepts these concerns and it continues to ram the Bills through the Houses. A great amount of legislation that passes through this Houses originates in Europe, and the Government is now trying to bypass all discussion by passing this Bill. It initially looked very innocent and most people did not realise what was happening.

We need to make it clear that nobody is knocking the European Union. The EU has been a strong and positive force for change in Ireland. It has delivered much financially and socially in this country, as the Minister of State pointed out in his speech. However, if measures coming from Europe have not been successful, much of that is due to the way the Government has failed to implement them — for example, Euroroutes 1 and 2 cross County Wexford, which are supposed to stretch across the EU. Nobody would consider the N11 or the N25 as Euroroutes, given the state of those roads. No action was taken on bypassing major towns in the 30 years since we have been part of the EU. That is due to a failure in the Government to believe in what Europe is all about. The Government has taken what was given for agriculture and fishing——

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