Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I oppose this section. We had some reference to this already on Second Stage. The section refers to the European Communities Act 2007 and to the additional authority that was granted under that Act to allow the line Minister to specify indictable offences and to incorporate them into secondary legislation through statutory instruments. This is an inordinately wide ranging power that has been granted to the Minister outside the normal operation of this House. It goes completely against the spirit and the substance of what we are doing in the Lisbon treaty, namely, eliminating the democratic deficit so that everything is done in a transparent fashion and in an accountable fashion within the bounds of this House. If we are now to have important Bills enacted - and this is fairly substantial - this flies against the tenor of our activities. We should really abolish the 2007 Act in that respect and take those powers from the individual Minister and restore them to the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The other aspect which underlines my argument is that we are conferring extra powers on the Houses in dealing with European Union matters. The role of Members has been enhanced under the Lisbon treaty, yet our 2007 legislation has gone in the opposite direction. The thrust of the discussions for this treaty since 2000 was very democratic. The Minister of State was involved, as were other members of the Government and the Opposition. It was hoped that we would extend that accountability into all of the activities. It is equally important that we have it in the transposition of legislation in this House. In so far as possible, all important legislative provisions should see the light of day on the floor of this House and the other House. They should not be enacted behind closed doors by an individual Minister who may wish to exercise his opinion alone.

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