Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I wish to thank the spokespersons of the principal Opposition parties for their support for this Bill. I strongly agree with most of the points that have been made. Deputy Bruton was quite right to underline the point that the Lisbon treaty is intended to bring in more democracy at European level and not to take powers away from people or states. I regard the EU as the greatest peace process in history at a regional level. It seems utterly perverse that it should be misrepresented as an organisation in danger of becoming militaristic and aggressive. I cannot for the life of me understand why the president of the Czech Republic, who lived under Soviet domination, should represent the EU as being in some way a reincarnation of the Soviet system. I find it very hard to get into that mindset.

Deputy Costello made the point that the Bill strengthens the independence of the European Parliament. I believe the institutional balance is broadly a good one with some fine-tuning that is being provided in the Lisbon treaty. There are opportunities for greater intervention and scrutiny by our own Parliament. At the same time, however, I sometimes think that some of the things said on this topic may not always be completely realistic. There is a mass of legislation and decision-making going on in the EU, so there must be a certain division of functions for things that are done at European level and those done at national level. Given the complexity of the issues involved, I am not sure it is always realistic to think that we can monitor everything that is going on. We must be prepared to delegate some of it, but we should certainly keep a close eye on the more important issues and, if necessary, make an input into them.

Deputy Costello raised the issue of taxation of salaries. Article 12.3 of the statute provides that it is a matter for each member state to consider whether national taxation provisions should be applied to the MEP's salary paid by the parliament, subject to the proviso that double taxation is avoided. In the statute, the European Parliament considered that it would be appropriate to allow member states to apply national taxation provisions on MEPs' salaries if it so wished. It is a discretionary provision and it is considered appropriate that as the current MEP salary at national level is subject to national taxation provisions, the latter should also be applied to the European Parliament salary.

Section 5 inserts a new section 127A in the Taxes Consolidation Act. To avoid double taxation this new section provides for the granting of a credit against Irish tax due on an MEP's salary of an amount equal to the tax paid by the MEP for the benefit of the communities in respect to that salary. The section also clarifies under which income tax schedule an MEP's salary is taxable.

Section 5(1) outlines the income tax schedule under which an MEP's salary falls to be charged to income tax of the State, and section 5(2) outlines that where a tax for the benefit of the European Communities is in respect of the salary of an MEP, such tax will be allowed as a credit against Irish tax due on that income.

This legislation makes the necessary provision for the transitional elements of the statute adopted by the European institutions in July 2005. The statute is the culmination of many years of discussion and negotiation among MEPs and similar discussions among and between the principal institutions of the European Union. As a result, it represents the views and considerations of all member states and for the first time establishes a single and transparent system for remuneration of MEPs throughout the European Union. The statute on which this Bill is based forms a single, universal and transparent set of terms and conditions under which all European parliamentarians will work. It fulfils a long-standing ambition of the Parliament and reflects the growing role of the Parliament in the affairs of the European Union.

The important and increasing role of the European Parliament is again reflected and enhanced by the Lisbon treaty. The treaty increases the number of areas in which the European Parliament will share the task of law-making with the Council of Ministers through co-decision, and the Parliament's budgetary role will also be strengthened. One of the key trends in the Lisbon treaty is the strengthened role it gives to both national parliaments and the European Parliament. The European Parliament, directly elected by EU citizens, gets important new powers in the EU legislative process, where in many areas it is placed on an equal footing with the Council, representing the governments of the member states.

Under the treaty, the usual method of legislating will be the "ordinary legislative procedure" contained in Article 294 TFEU, which involves co-decision between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The move to the ordinary legislative procedure as the standard decision-making process for Union legislation represents a substantial democratisation of the EU legislative process, by virtue of the broader range of areas in which the role of the European Parliament is increased. These include agriculture, fisheries, Structural Funds, transport and the entirety of what we now call justice and home affairs, which is the third pillar of the Union. Ireland's opt-in arrangement for justice and home affairs adds an extra layer of parliamentary scrutiny to this, in that our participation in justice and home affairs measures is subject to the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas.

The treaty also proposes to introduce new budgetary provisions to increase the role of the European Parliament in respect of the Union's budget. The current distinction between "compulsory", that is, predominantly agricultural, and "non-compulsory" expenditure will be abolished. Under the existing treaties, the European Parliament has only an advisory role in respect of compulsory expenditure. Under the Lisbon treaty, the agreement of the European Parliament will be required in respect of the whole budget, including agricultural spending as contained in Article 314 TFEU. These are important developments and emphasise the increasingly significant role which our recently elected MEPs will play on behalf of Ireland and the European Union. I am sure the House will join me in wishing those MEPs all the best in delivering their mandate for the Irish and European citizen in the years ahead.

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