Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I am pleased to be in this House to introduce the European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012. This Bill is but the most recent revision to the European Communities Act 1972. Each such revision has, in turn, gone a long way to bringing home to the Houses of the Oireachtas and Irish people at large key developments taking place at European Union level. Successive amendments to the European Communities Act 1972 have served to bring into the domestic law of this State significant instruments which Ireland has freely agreed with our partners in the European Union. Thus, the Bill before us has good pedigree.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss developments in the European Union in the House. This is an important means of continuing to communicate Europe to our people, which is something we all need to do more of, not only in advance of referendums. Clearly, this debate takes place in the wake of last month's referendum. The Bill was originally published in early May in accordance with our overt commitment to make available, well in advance of the referendum, all legislative proposals which were in any way related to the proposition put to the Irish people on the stability treaty at the end of last month. The Government made very clear, prior to the referendum, its intention to legislate for the amendment to Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to provide this legal underpinning to the European Stability Mechanism, ESM. It was with this knowledge that our people voted and resoundingly approved the stability treaty. The Bill thus forms part of the legislative follow-up to the direct expression of the people's will.

I welcome and appreciate the decision taken by the Irish people. I welcome it because I earnestly believe it was the right decision for Ireland and Europe and I appreciate it because I am acutely aware it was not an easy decision for anyone. The hardships our people continue to endure are real and painful, yet they appreciated that the stability treaty would form an important part of finding a sustainable solution to the crisis.

Throughout the referendum campaign, the Government consistently stated that the passage of the stability treaty would not be a panacea to all the ills of the euro area. While that is certainly the case, the treaty is a critical piece of the jigsaw. Equally critical, in my view and that of the Government, is the need for a growth agenda to complement and balance the stability agenda on which we have been working. It is the growth agenda to which we will turn in Brussels at the end of this week when I will accompany the Taoiseach to the European Council summit meeting. We are working to ensure the European Union will adopt a compact for jobs and growth. The new compact sets out a range of actions to be taken at the level of the member states. Importantly, it also sets out in a clear and comprehensive manner the contribution European policies can make to growth and employment across the Union. These will include efforts to get investment flowing to where it is needed, be it through the European Investment Bank, project bonds or the reprogramming of Structural Funds.

At the same time, concrete steps will be taken to capture the significant additional growth potential in the Single Market, including the digital single market. Similarly, trade offers us a real engine for growth which can yet be tapped. At European Union level, we need to make more progress in opening up key international markets to European and Irish goods and services. This will be one of the priorities of the next Irish Presidency during the first half of 2013.

I will now turn to the purpose and contents of the Bill. The European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012 is brief and relatively technical in its nature but no less important for that. The purpose of the Bill is to amend the European Communities Act 1972 to do a number of significant things. It provides that the following shall form part of the domestic law of the State: the protocol amending the protocol on transitional provisions annexed to the Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community; the European Council decision amending Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union with regard to a stability mechanism for member states whose currency is the euro; the treaty concerning the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, done at Brussels on the ninth day of December 2011; and the protocol on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, done at Brussels on the 16th day of May 2012. If the Bill is passed, these four instruments would, upon ratification by Ireland, become a part of the domestic law of the State.

I will set out briefly what is involved with each of these four instruments. The first instrument is a protocol to the EU treaties which provides for a temporary increase in the number of MEPs. This arrangement applies only for the life of the current European Parliament, which runs up until 2014.

This protocol arose from the fact that elections to the European Parliament of 2009 took place before the Lisbon treaty had entered into force. Under the Lisbon treaty, 12 member states were to be represented by an additional 18 MEPs. Given that the Lisbon treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009, EU leaders agreed that these member states should have the benefit of their full complement of MEPs for this session of the Parliament, thus bringing about this protocol. As I have noted, the effect of this protocol is strictly time bound, and consequently this element of the European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012 is effectively a matter of good housekeeping.

The second instrument this Bill seeks to include in the domestic law of the State is the European Council decision of 25 March 2011 amending Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, TFEU. This decision was introduced with a view to providing a legal underpinning to the European Stability Mechanism, ESM. The change to Article 136 of the TFEU is separate and distinct from the ESM treaty but the two are evidently related. Members will note the entry into force of the ESM does not require the prior entry into force of the amendment of Article 136. This is emphasised by the fact that the target date for the entry into force of the ESM treaty is next month, while the amendment to Article 136 of the TFEU is expected to enter into force in January 2013. It is the Government's strongly held view that it is entirely in national interest of Ireland to have established an ESM which is as strong and robust as is possible. The amendment to Article 136 of the TFEU makes a contribution to that end. For this reason, I believe this change to Article 136 of the TFEU is also in our interests and should be incorporated into our domestic law.

The third instrument provided for in this Bill is the Croatian accession treaty. This treaty was signed by EU leaders, including the Taoiseach on behalf of Ireland, as well as by Croatia on 9 December 2011 in the margins of the December European Council meeting. The enlargement of the European Union is a policy Ireland has consistently supported. It was among the first countries to benefit from the enlargement of the Union almost 40 years ago. The Union has served this country very well in the intervening decades and we are happy to see that, even at a time of severe challenge for Europe, the powers of attraction remain undimmed. I look forward to welcoming Croatia as a member state of the European Union from the middle of next year and to working with the Government and people of Croatia across the wide range of policy areas in which EU member states engage and co-operate with one another.

The fourth and final instrument covered by the Bill is the Irish legal guarantees protocol. Members will recall that in June 2009, EU leaders agreed to provide Ireland with a series of legal guarantees on a range of concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon, including on the right to life, family and education, taxation and security and defence. These legal guarantees were originally agreed in the form of a legally binding decision. EU leaders also agreed that at the time of the conclusion of the next accession treaty, the provisions of the decision would be set out in a protocol to be attached to the EU treaties. Consequently, work on the Irish legal guarantees protocol was linked in time to the Croatian accession treaty. On foot of the signing of the latter last December, work was progressed on Ireland's protocol, which was opened for signature on 16 May. I am happy to report to the House that all member states have now signed this protocol and will now begin their respective national ratification processes with a view to Ireland's protocol entering into force in the middle of 2013. This development is a reminder, if any were needed, that the European Union keeps its word and delivers on its undertakings.

As this Bill was originally published on 8 May and the Irish legal guarantees protocol was only opened for signature on 16 May, the Bill as originally published provided for the first two instruments only, namely, the MEPs protocol and the amendment to Article 136 of the TFEU. The additional two instruments, that is, the Croatian accession treaty and the Irish legal guarantees protocol, were added to the Bill during its Committee Stage reading by the Select Committee on European Union Affairs.

Before concluding, I wish to record my appreciation for the manner in which this Bill has been considered thus far by the Houses of the Oireachtas. There has been widespread support for this Bill and its contents from almost all shades of opinion and I look forward to its positive consideration by this House as well. I commend the Bill to the House.