Seanad debates

Thursday, 5 June 2008

Lisbon Reform Treaty Report: Statements

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Ar dtús báire ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Seanadóir White as ucht a chuid ama a roinnt liom. I thank Senator White for providing me with time to speak on this issue. I wish to refer to workers' rights, even though I addressed it last night. The Charter of Fundamental Rights contains no new rights that are not already contained in the Constitution or in international law. Sinn Féin will defend workers' rights in this State, the EU and the wider world. Our MEP, Mary Lou MacDonald, was the only Irish MEP to be shortlisted for the MEP of the year award because of her work in the European Parliament on workers' rights. Our record is second to none. We share the opinion of trade unions in Ireland that we must see the strengthening of workers' rights in this Parliament. The charter means nothing unless it is implemented or legislation, such as that on collective bargaining, is introduced in the home country.

Rather than address the democratic deficit, the treaty will widen it. The treaty removes Ireland's right to a permanent Commissioner for five out of every 15 years. This means we will not have a representative on the body responsible for drafting and implementing laws for that period. Ireland's representatives on the Commission have played a crucial role over the years. No matter how good a relationship the Irish Government builds with European Commissioners from other states it is no substitute for an Irish voice at the table. For a small country like Ireland it is vital to have a permanent voice at the European Commission table, especially when one considers that this country only has a small number of MEPs and our voting strength on the Council of Ministers will be halved if Lisbon is passed.

In addition, the Lisbon treaty would remove also more than 60 member state vetoes at Council in highly sensitive areas such as energy, asylum, immigration, judicial co-operation and the inclusion of health and education in international trade agreements. We will give more than 100 new powers to the EU, including self-amending articles which will significantly strengthen the EU institutions while weakening the role of member states and citizens in the legislative process.

To make this process of centralisation appear less dramatic, the drafters of the Lisbon treaty included a protocol on member state parliaments. Advocates of the treaty argue that this protocol will greatly increase the role of member state parliaments in the decision-making process. Nothing could be further from the truth. When one cuts through the rhetoric and examines the detail of what is proposed, it is clear the new powers for member state parliaments are nothing more than cosmetic window dressing designed to take the bad look off a very bad treaty. At the core of the proposals contained in the protocol are two new mechanisms known as the yellow card and the orange card. None of these requires the Commission to take on board the issues raised by parliaments but just to consider them within an eight-week period.

After my contribution last night, the Minister of State commented that no one has the right to invent facts. This is true on both sides and the Minister of State's comments yesterday suggested it was only the "No" side that invented facts. The Tánaiste claimed a number of times that larger states have two Commissioners. Deputies have claimed that Ireland would not lose its Commissioner and the Minister of Defence referred to stopping many alliances forming in Europe. The Minister of State must acknowledge that, on all sides, there has been misrepresentation, even from some of the most senior Members of the Irish Parliament.

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