Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for not being present for the speech given by Deputy Higgins, who is very welcome to the House. We have learned during the presentations by various MEPs over the course of Ireland's Presidency that "Deputy" is the correct term.

I want to pick up on Senator O'Keeffe's question about the scrutiny of EU legislation. We have discussed this matter in the House on a number of occasions, including last night. I have always meant to ask an MEP whether, in practice, scrutiny takes place in other parliamentary chambers around Europe. If so, are MEPs aware of it? How does it work? We scrutinise EU measures relating to justice and home affairs at the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, of which I am a member. I wonder whether scrutiny is done in other countries in parliamentary chambers, as opposed to parliamentary committees. Do the results of that scrutiny get fed back into the European Parliament? Is there such a level of direct engagement with national parliamentary chambers? If so, is there a particularly good model we could adopt here in Ireland?