Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. Most of the points I had intended to make have been made by other Members in the past few hours. I do not wish to repeat them. I commend Senator Daly on introducing this motion and on facilitating this extremely important debate. I share the views of those on both sides of the House who have said that this will be a job well done - it will have been worth it for us all to have come back from our holidays - if one more person signs an organ donor card and saves somebody's life as a result of this debate. As we know, some 600 people are waiting on renal transplants this year. The least we need to do as an Oireachtas is do everything possible within our powers to ensure the best possible system is in place to meet the needs of those people.

It has been already said that this debate is not about the text of the directive itself. The leader of the Fianna Fáil group made that clear in his opening speech. I think we all agree that the directive was an important initiative at European level. The aim of the directive was to put in place proper systems across all countries. Like any legislative initiative, it is only as good as its implementation. Words are all very well. It does not matter whether these things are adopted at European level or through domestic legislation - a proper system for actually implementing them is needed. It has been pointed out that other countries have taken a much more effective approach. Senator Walsh spoke about what is being done in Spain. Croatia was mentioned earlier in the debate. It is clear from such examples that in addition to giving responsibility for this area to a single agency, in line with the spirit of the directive, we must ensure that people on the ground in hospitals work with families.

Donor co-ordinators need to be able to talk family members through this sensitive process, address their concerns and bring them to a point at which they are comfortable with having the organs of their loved one donated to give someone else an opportunity. That is essential because we all know how crazy our hospital system is at the best of times. All medical professionals have the best of intentions. They would wish to be involved in the conversation that takes place when a life ends with the intention of doing everything possible to facilitate the saving of another life. They are willing to encourage families to become donors, but they also have to deal with the other pressures of the hospital system. For that reason, somebody should be specifically tasked with the responsibility of prioritising organ donation and given the time to do so. It is essential for the proper arrangements to be put in place to that end.

There has been a great deal of debate in recent weeks about whether today's sitting is necessary. Many salvos have been fired between the Government side and the Opposition side on the matter. One of the things that has come out of all the publicity is that there seems to be a greater urgency on the part of the Government to address this issue. I welcome that. I hope it means that the necessary structure which needs to be put in place will be brought forward. If that is done, we will be the first people to welcome it.

I would like to refer to an incredibly important broader issue that has been raised. We have spoken at various points during the year about the lack of EU scrutiny. We spend days and weeks scrutinising the most innocuous domestic legislation. Sometimes the Government makes dozens of amendments to its own Bill a few weeks after introducing it. We spend hours debating how to correct tiny typos in Bills. We go through legislation line by line to make sure we get it right. Approximately 90% of Irish legislation now comes from the EU, and most of it gets very little scrutiny. As Senator Byrne said at the outset, during the summer period there is no opportunity for committees to be looking at legislation. Ministers are signing statutory instruments on important issues that have been initiated at EU level. I refer to legislation on criminal penalties, for example. It is absolutely essential that we examine our approach to legislation. It is crazy to spend long periods of time scrutinising simple and uncontentious domestic legislation while paying no attention to what is coming from Europe.

One of the positive aspects of the Lisbon treaty, which was the subject of a contentious referendum that we all fought, is that it provided for new arrangements for the scrutiny of EU legislation by domestic parliaments. It put in place a yellow card procedure whereby initiatives that are proposed at EU level are immediately referred to domestic Parliaments. Like other national Parliaments, we have an opportunity to use the yellow card system to insist that legislative proposals be looked at again. I understand this system has been used just once by Ireland since it was brought in. I think that is crazy. It shows that the Dáil and the Seanad - both Houses of the Oireachtas as things are currently structured - are not doing their jobs. Incredibly important legislation is coming through Europe every single day. It is placed at the bottom of the agendas of Oireachtas committees, after many other things, and is not given proper scrutiny. We need to address that.

I hope one thing that comes from this debate, whether the Minister of State disagrees with the subject of the debate or not, is a commitment from the Government to put in place better arrangements for dealing with European Union legislation. One of the ways it should be done is through a reformed Seanad. A Government Senator referred to the Taoiseach's previous view on the role this House could play in regard to scrutiny of European legislation. There is an urgent need to address the issue and to look at the job this Parliament should be doing in the European context. If this debate achieves anything, I hope it brings greater urgency to this.