Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

This report is important in terms of ensuring legislation originating from the European Commission or the Council is examined from a critical perspective. It would also help to eliminate the democratic deficit of which we all speak. This will happen where there is a detailed connection with the public. We cannot go out roaring from the rooftops. People would probably regard that as self-promotion. We have means, including the national broadcast media and local radio. We have all those vehicles that should ensure people are fully and acutely aware of the work that is going on here. There should not be this great level of perceived disconnection with the public. After all we are not Einsteins, philosophers or anything else. We are in here trying to deal with the legislation, doing the best we can, getting into the intricate details of proposed legislation and how it might impact on parallel legislation that might be in the House.

Some of it is directly effective and we need to take it as it is. However, with some of it, we can propose amendments to coincide with some of our legislation and minimise or mitigate some of the impacts on our citizens, companies, farmers and others, including people involved in the fishing industry who need to put up with such legislation. We try to ensure that Ireland's interests are ultimately protected as best we can and not adversely impacted by the thrust of the legislation. I have always been a strong advocate of additional resources for this committee. I compliment Deputies Perry and Connick and their colleagues on their work in this area.

I will cite the example of the Chemicals Act — mother of God, the language is arcane. The Act is complex, difficult to understand and highly technical. It sometimes lacks co-ordination and it makes significant references to originating legislation. I am lucky I am a barrister. Without the help of the Oireachtas Library and research service, which is an excellent advance in the House, we would be left behind altogether.

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment examined a proposal for a Council regulation on the statute of a European private company. We examined the purpose and ambition of the proposal and the possibility that it might lead to a reduction in compliance with domestic legislation concerning companies and undermine national legislation by creating a two-tier approach. We also examined the possible benefits, the expected uptake level of its provisions and the estimated reductions in compliance cost that would result. We also examined the consequences of the possibility that the proposal would lead to increased foreign competition and facilitate European companies establishing themselves in Ireland. We also examined the consequences of the proposal for consumers and workers, and how the proposal fitted in with the work of the company law review group. We examined it in a holistic way.

We proposed a number of recommendations as best we could. I thank the officials from various Departments who always make themselves readily available and have a fair degree of expertise in the area, dealing with people like ourselves. I have always had a strong interest in the temporary workers directive and I was glad to see the progress made during the Slovenian Presidency. I had introduced a Bill on behalf of the Labour Party because it is an issue that is very fundamental and dear to us. We do not want any diminution of workers' rights. It is important to tell the public that this advance has been made. It is up to the trade union movement to ensure that, in partnership with the Government, it is included in the Towards 2016 agreement and becomes workable.

Sometimes issues slip under the radar regardless of how well we examine them. This may have happened prior to the establishment of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Scrutiny. I have some expertise in agriculture and if I refer to it, I apologise. I should not need to apologise because I represent an agricultural constituency. Nevertheless, in the agricultural area, hundreds of small farmers across the country had a most difficult harvest owing to the prevailing poor weather conditions, as most of us know. However, they were further harassed by the ploughing regulations introduced under the nitrates directive. I have written a book on agriculture and the law, in which I included a chapter on the nitrates directive.

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