Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for facilitating this debate and I thank the Minister for his presence. The Seanad, following the referendum, is very conscious of its functions under the Constitution and I am particularly conscious of our functions in regard to the justice and home affairs sector. It was put into the Constitution that both Houses of the Oireachtas would have to approve our opting into any of these measures and it is important the Seanad has a full, if short, debate on these matters. While the Minister may believe the Seanad is replicating the work of the joint committee, in fact, the opposite is the case in that the joint committee is doing work on behalf of the Seanad. However, the Seanad is the place where the decision must be taken on this issue - not the Government or a committee but the Seanad and, separately, the Dáil.

We will be supporting both motions today and we support what is sought to be achieved here. The Minister mentioned data protection issues, which are of huge concern. What I did not get from the Minister's speech was what our input was into the debate on this legislation we are now opting into, and whether we had particular concerns. It is important that, in future, we take the time to deal with all of these matters. The reality is that if something goes wrong with any of these laws, people will look back and ask what we did. The answer for this Chamber in most cases would be "Not very much".