Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but he did not actually qualify that; there is no asterisk next to it. Moreover, promises were made by the Labour Party, which was going to take it back to Europe. However, the wriggle room in respect of Europe was gone and perhaps the Minister might outline what is happening in that regard at this stage. The fault lies with Departments in the past which left the current Minister with very little wriggle room. Before the directive was developed all, however, Ireland did not engage and it just came. Initially, we tried to get away with just little bogs, only to be told we would not get away with that and would be obliged to include more. I repeat that this was an entire failure of process and this happens more often than not. Consequently, relative to the 54 Acts of the Oireachtas the Dáil and Seanad passed last year, 509 statutory instruments were signed by the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, and others to bring into force EU directives in Ireland.

If I may digress slightly from the particular directive under discussion, a directive on transparency was brought in from Europe. It was signed by none other than the Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Enterprise, Deputy Bruton, who at present appears to be engaged on a job other than the creation of jobs. The amazing point about the aforementioned transparency directive is that no Deputy or Senator saw it before it was signed into law. I hope the Minister, Deputy Bruton, spotted the irony of signing a transparency directive without showing it beforehand to any Member of the Oireachtas. However, it goes back to the issue of the lack of engagement by previous Governments to ensure that whatever effect it might have on Irish citizens, be they in counties Roscommon or Kerry, would be minimal. While I acknowledge that many letters were sent out, that was an engagement between Departments and citizens, not the legislators and the citizens because the legislators are largely bypassed in this regard.

When one uses terminology like "directive", one must understand it is a draft law. While people may disengage when they hear about directives, regulations or statutory instruments, they are laws. While they may be different types of laws, they are laws none the less, and yet, if one adds up all the EU regulations, directives and statutory instruments, which are all simply types of laws, that are signed and brought into effect in Ireland each year, they account for 98% of what comes into effect in Ireland each year. Leinster House is only responsible for the balance of 2%. I do not need to educate my colleagues opposite, who will be aware that in the forthcoming referendum and the alleged reform of the Dáil, if one House of the Oireachtas is incapable of reform, one might be amazed as to how one could reform the other House. Nevertheless, although it is proposed that it be reformed, none of what I have referred to will change. EU directives will continue to come in without scrutiny by the officials in the relevant Department. Ministers will continue to be told at the last minute that they must sign this directive without proper scrutiny or examination of the topics and measures that could be taken because the measure must be returned to Europe.

I acknowledge compensation packages have been put in place, but while that may be satisfactory for some people, it is not satisfactory for others. There has been a great deal of protest on the issue both in my native county of Kerry and elsewhere. This problem stems from various European Union directives, but it was our failure to engage and to scrutinise properly early on that led us to the current position in which people in Ireland are breaking the law. Had this been done better and earlier, many of the difficulties we face would have been avoided.

Will the Minister provide Members with an update regarding the Monivea bog near Listowel? On my own behalf and that of my colleague, Senator O'Sullivan, I ask him to outline how that issue is progressing, as well as the progress, if any, he is making with the Commission in this regard.