Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

This amendment concerns the supremacy of the Oireachtas and its right to make or retain laws without being bypassed on the whim of a Minister. The Minister was given a way out on Committee Stage when reasonable proposals were made by Opposition spokespersons. He had the opportunity to redeem himself and retrieve the situation but he chose to ignore it.

I will not try to misrepresent the Minister of State in the way he misrepresented us earlier. He said on Committee Stage that severe pressure could be put on the Government to introduce a regulation from the Europe Union at short notice. Lack of action could, for example, result in the country being penalised. For that reason, he was unable to accept one of our amendments. However, the record is pathetic with regard to transposition of EU regulations into domestic law. Replies to questions I asked last week indicate that a wide range of Departments have failed utterly to deal with many of the directives coming from the European Union. I do not wish to be unfair to Departments as I do not have the figures to hand, but 50 to 60 directives pertaining to the Department of Transport have only partially been transposed. In the area of the environment the Government has failed to transpose a range of regulations. Few Departments are without sin in this matter. Therefore, the excuse that fear of the heavy hand of the European Union forces the Government to bypass normal democratic procedures and principles is pathetic.

In the seven minutes that remain on Report Stage I ask the Minister to State to treat us in a realistic and fair manner. He should either consider Deputy Costello's amendment or entertain the proposals made on Committee Stage that regulations should not take effect until after they have been laid before the Dáil for a period of 21 days. Members would then have an opportunity to raise the contents on the floor of the House.

See this speech in context