Dáil debates
Friday, 20 April 2012
Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union) Bill 2012 - Committee Stage and Remaining Stages
1:00 pm
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
The Deputy is missing the point I understand Deputy Catherine Murphy to be making. Whatever one might have thought about other treaties passed within the European Union - quite a number of Members have opposed many aspects of those treaties and campaigned against them - there is at least a countervailing democratic mechanism. There are avenues through which the citizens of this country, even if sovereignty has been pooled at a European-wide level, can challenge the implementation of those policies. However, this intergovernmental treaty is different because there is no democratic countervailing avenue.
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