Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 4, lines 38 to 45, to delete subsection (2).

What I have just heard from the Minister of State in response to Senator Quinn's earlier intervention goes a long way towards supporting my amendment. If we want to keep Europe relevant and real and ensure our part in the European project continues strongly, we must ensure we do not distance the people of this country from the European institutions, all matters flowing from them and European legislation. Although the Minister of State's speech was an extraordinary tour de force, I question its relevance to the man or woman on the street. While it is politically proper, this use of the jungle of jargon of European language can make the citizen of Ireland and Europe feel distant from the European political process. Notwithstanding the necessity of the legislation before us, it is crucial that it is dealt with through primary legislation. My amendment reflects our disquiet at the ease with which statutory instruments would become the norm rather than the exception.

In the aftermath of the defeat of the first Nice treaty we had a major debate. Some good came from it as certain measures were introduced to try to deal with the situation caused by the defeat of the Nice treaty. We all, including Deputy Treacy in his ministerial capacity, agreed that we had to include the citizen to the maximum extent and that no matter what measure was coming from Europe, a major one such as the constitutional treaty or a minor directive, the citizen had to be part of the process. The free use of statutory instruments to transpose European regulations and directives goes against the spirit of what we all agreed two, three or four years ago. It goes against the spirit of the progress we made by the introduction of the Sub-Committee on European Scrutiny. It goes against the spirit of the public meetings we have had across the country on the EU constitution. If that good work is to be fruitful and effective we must ensure we use the parliamentary process to the full, not in a minimalist, rubber-stamping fashion. That is why I submit to the Minister of State that primary legislation rather than statutory instrument must be to the fore in the European project from an Oireachtas perspective. I hope the Minister of State considers my comments positive and helpful. We can win votes at Oireachtas level, but as we saw in the Nice treaty vote, unless we can make people feel part of the project the Leinster House ship may travel in a different direction from the rest of the populace. Fully debated legislation going through both Houses must be the rule rather than the exception.