Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

He is certainly making a mark. This side of the House has a problem with the principle of guillotining the debate on a Bill without providing an opportunity to discuss it fully. The normal procedures of the House which we were elected to follow are being bypassed. This sends a bad message to those Eurosceptics who wish to attack the European Union. They will be able to say the Union is totally unaccountable because legislation is being introduced by way of ministerial instrument. This will not just involve any old directive because the Minister is giving himself the power to amend or appeal legislation from the European Union as he sees fit. He will be able to do what he likes, while avoiding the House. Clearly, anybody who wishes to take exception to the European Union will be able to cite this bad day's work of undermining normal procedures in respect of legislation emanating from the European Union.

The explanatory memorandum makes no bones about the fact that the Bill amends the European Communities Act 1972 to provide for indictable offences. My amendment tries to rectify this to some extent by providing that where an indictable offence is created, it should cease to have effect after three months unless confirmed by an Act of the Oireachtas which sets out in substantive form the terms of the offence. We are not great at transposing European directives into domestic law and are particularly far behind on all important environmental directives. However, if we transpose a directive at short notice or in an emergency with the result that an indictable offence is created, we would at least have the fall-back position of having to reconsider it in the context of substantive legislation after three months. The minimum the Minister should do is give us a period of reflection where a transposed European directive carries a penalty of up to three years imprisonment or a fine of €500,000. The Oireachtas could deal with the issues involved in the normal fashion and then get on with its job.

See this speech in context