Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

As the scaffold and the guillotine has been removed from Merrion Lawn, it would be opportune for us in this House to fight for the consideration of European legislation. It was foreseen in the Lisbon treaty that it would be scrutinised by a House of the Oireachtas, not a joint committee. Legislation is not being scrutinised; it is being left alone. If the demise of this House happens there will never be scrutiny again of European legislation. It is the one area where we can scrutinise legislation. Ministers are not needed to scrutinise legislation, it is not their business, it is our business, it is the business of elected representatives. There is a reliance on Ministers, and I appreciate the Leader and previous Leaders always had difficulty in getting Ministers to come into the House. I was a Minister and I know both sides of the coin. We have a great opportunity and I want to put it strongly. The Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, said that she would favour such an approach. This question of staff is irrelevant; we can do our own staffing here, we have the ability and the capacity to deal with European legislation. I am not referring to the Clerk or Assistant Clerk of the Seanad, I am talking about this idea that we must have more staff to support the scrutiny of legislation. That is not necessary. We read the legislation, put forward our points of view, decide on it and refer it back to Europe; it is as simple as that. There is the potential to move staff from other areas of the joint committees if they are not dealing with scrutiny. I am sick and tired listening to this stuff. The Leader can do this and I know he will do it.

The referendum will come and the Government will have a fight on its hands because the people outside will mount a major campaign to ensure this House continues for the future. It would be almost retrograde step in these difficult times if a legislative House was removed and a Government was given more control without scrutiny.