Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. I do not think it was ever envisaged that there would be a constitutional amendment to remove one part of the Oireachtas. It was never considered possible that this would come about. The Taoiseach and Fine Gael promised to reduce the number of Members of the Dáil by 20 but found that would be in breach of the Constitution and, strangely enough, decided it would not put an amendment to the people on that. However, when it came to the Seanad, they decided to go ahead with the referendum. That has never been explained. The commitment was made to reduce the number of Deputies by 20, with which I would not particularly agree, but it is only going to be reduced by eight, which is constitutional. This was referred to in the Fine Gael manifesto, which had to be honoured, but it is not being put to the people. That is not made up, it is a fact. The Government decided it would not have a referendum on a reduction in the number of Deputies by 20 but it would reduce the number of Oireachtas Members by 60 by abolishing the Seanad.

On 15 October 2009, the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act allowed the State to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. During the debate, in particular on Lisbon II, it was felt there was a democratic deficit - a distance from the legislative epicentre in Brussels and a growing knowledge gap between the citizens of member states and the Union that may be countered by a strengthened and bolstered role of the Seanad within the European sphere. Previous fora, such as the National Forum on Europe, which was disbanded, played a role in bringing attention to citizens the mutually beneficial role and future role of Ireland and Europe in their lives. The Lisbon II campaign saw the activist and mobilizing effect of certain civil society groups, which was welcome. The Seanad could step up to the plate here.

The White Paper on the Lisbon treaty, published by the Department of Foreign Affairs, referenced the national parliaments and Houses of the Oireachtas at least 14 times. Articles 9 to 12 of the Treaty of the European Union deal with the relationship between citizens and the EU institutions. In addition to references to the relationship between EU institutions, representative associations and civil society and the citizens' initiative, there is reference to the role of national parliaments.

The White Paper states:

The Treaty will give the national parliaments of the Member States a direct input for the first time into European Union legislation. These provisions are contained in two additional Protocols, one on the role of national parliaments and other on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.

The people voted on the second Lisbon treaty referendum on the basis that there would be an enhanced role for the Dáil and Seanad and not only the Dáil. The Seanad was the ideal forum to bring this about - the Leader made every effort in this regard in the past two years - that we would be allowed to scrutinise EU legislation. This would have been a major and a worthwhile role because one can refer Bills back. The Minister of State will know the procedure in this regard but it is not being operated.

The protocol on the role of national parliaments provides for a process where Commission consultation documents - Green and White Papers and
communications - shall be forwarded directly by the Commission to national parliaments upon publication. Draft European legislative Acts sent to the European Parliament and to the Council shall be forwarded to national Parliaments. Draft European legislative acts originating in the EU Commission, European Parliament, European Central Bank, European Investment Bank, European Court of Justice or member states shall also be forwarded to national Parliaments. Article 3 of the protocol provides that national parliaments may send to the Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission a reasoned opinion-----