Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, this legislation unfairly deprives Ireland of stronger representation in Europe. It earmarks Ireland for a reduction in seats as part of the accession of Croatia as the 28th state in the Union.

The reduction from 12 to 11 seats facilitates the reduction in numbers in the European Parliament and the accommodation of the Croatian delegation at a time when Ireland most needs a strong voice.

The decision to cut the numbers was made at intergovernmental level in June 2013. Unfortunately, the Government failed to voice strong opposition. The specific constituency format of large, sprawling areas reflects the recommendations of the Constituency Commission. I acknowledge the Minister's comments on the commission's independence, but it was obliged to act under the constraints set by the new seat level.

Over time, Ireland has lost more than one fifth of its representation in the European Parliament, having been cut from 15 to 12 and now to 11. This hits us disproportionately hard. The reduction in numbers was implemented without any meaningful consultation with the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs. The Irish voice is weak in that Chamber at a time when the Parliament's power and influence have grown. It is important for Ireland that we seek a better deal from Europe on, for example, retrospective capitalisation to help get our economy going again.

With only 11 MEPs, the workload of the Irish representation will be even more thinly spread across 20 committees, where the majority of the European Parliament's work is done. Will our voices be severely limited on these critical committees?

The number of MEPs for each country is roughly in proportion to its population. Under the Lisbon treaty, no country can have fewer than six or more than 96 MEPs. However, the Parliament's current numbers were set before the treaty's entering into force. Those numbers will be adjusted for the next mandate of the European Parliament. For example, the number of MEPs from Germany will be reduced from 99 to 96 while Malta's numbers will increase from five to six.

The European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee was not given the opportunity to have an independent input into the decision making process behind the selection process for the seat reduction. All Irish MEPs opposed this omission. The new sprawling constituencies laid out in the Bill reflect the constraints placed on the Constituency Commission through no fault of its own but by virtue of the agreement to reduce the number of seats to 11.

Consider the manner in which the European Parliament's powers have evolved. During the past two decades, the Parliament has expanded significantly in terms of its influence and power. It has evolved from what was essentially a consultative body in 1973 to a powerful part of the European machinery. One would have thought that this rendered Irish seats and their representation of our people's interests even more important than was initially the case.

By introducing the co-decision procedure in certain areas of legislation and extending the co-operation procedure to more still, the Maastricht treaty marked the beginning of the Parliament's metamorphosis into the role of co-legislator. It gave the Parliament the power of final approval over the membership of the Commission. This represented an important step forward for the Parliament's political control of the EU's Executive.

The Amsterdam treaty extended the co-decision procedure to most areas of legislation and reformed it, placing the Parliament as co-legislator on an equal footing with the Council. The appointment of the President of the Commission was made subject to the Parliament's approval, thus increasing its control over the Executive. The Nice treaty further extended the scope of the co-decision procedure. Co-decision has become the most widely used legislative procedure and covers particularly important areas such as the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, and justice and security policy. The Parliament's role in the preparation of future treaty amendments has become even more significant.

This series of treaty changes from Maastricht to Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon introduced and developed the concept of co-decision powers. This means that the Parliament shares power with the Council of Ministers. Its overall effect creates a bicameral system with the Commission as the Executive.

As EU competency has extended across several areas, including tighter fiscal control through the fiscal compact treaty, the role of the Parliament has become more important than ever before. Ireland needs to have a strong voice fighting our corner in the Parliament. No matter how minimal, the reduction in seats deprives Ireland, a small country on the geographical fringes of the Continent, of a much needed voice in what is an increasingly powerful chamber. This change has also created and will create many difficulties for our representatives, given the geographical sprawl of the Constituency Commission's proposals. However, I do not hold the commission to account for this. It had to work under the tight constraints placed on it by the decision taken at intergovernmental level. This is not a question of having a dissenting voice among the Irish representatives. Rather, I question the reasoning behind not allowing the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee a meaningful input into the process that brought about the decision. As the Minister and others have stated, the commission was constrained. We respect its decision and its independence in arriving at a conclusion in meeting the demands placed upon it by this agreement.

See this speech in context