Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs. It is appropriate to recognise Europe Day, which I presume is happening all over Europe. Perhaps this morning's effort in the hall of the Oireachtas could be improved for the future and involve Members further, including the Cathaoirleach, the Leader of the House, the leader of our delegation to the Council of Europe, Deputy Joe O'Reilly, and others. We might not give Europe Day the recognition it deserves, makes it a special day each year or recognises our involvement in the European Union and the benefits we have derived from our membership since the early 1970s. The Leader has been actively trying to devise a method of scrutinising certain EU legislative proposals based on new developments in that regard. I will work with him and other Senators to ensure the House, as opposed to sectoral committees, will have an opportunity to scrutinise legislation on important and strategic issues.

Unfortunately, the European Union has been damaged by the amount of legislation and recommendations coming from the European Commission that have never been scrutinised by either House or any of their committees. This led to the disastrous situation involving the preservation of cutaway bogs. The issue was handled in a way that created many difficulties for Governments, farmers and bog owners and such difficulties should be avoided. The more scrutiny of legislation there is, the more they can be avoided.

In the European Union there is a vast area of responsibility. The Minister of State made a point about legislative scrutiny. The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine held 12 meetings, considered 53 proposals and referred five for further scrutiny, while the remainder were deemed not to warrant further scrutiny. The Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection held five meetings; the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht , six; the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, eight; the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, 11; the Joint Committee on Health and Children, three; the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, 13; the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, eight; and the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, seven. The level of scrutiny is higher than it ever was.

I compliment Deputy Dominic Hannigan, Chairman of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs, of which I am a member, on his leadership in dealing with the referendum on the possible exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Some of these issues will be resolved tomorrow or late tonight after the votes have been counted and the new British Government has been formed. One of the leading parties has promoted the holding of a referendum in two years time, which is causing uncertainty and difficulty for everyone involved, particularly us. If the United Kingdom were to withdraw from the European union, Ireland would be the most affected, especially given the work that has been done in the North via the Good Friday Agreement, the committees that have been formed and the joint efforts in promoting tourism, Waterways Ireland, etc. These wonderful efforts might need to be renegotiated, given the fact that the Republic of Ireland would be in the European Union, while Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom would be under British rule. These issues are of great concern. I accompanied the Chairman, Deputy Dominic Hannigan, and other committee members to London recently to discuss with British MPs and others the implications for both countries. Ireland cannot stand idly by if the referendum is held. We would have a role to play and become deeply involved because of the implications for the Republic. In the meantime, the uncertainty has had a small benefit. American multinationals are not comfortable in making major investments in the United Kingdom if there is a possibility that it will withdraw from the European Union.It is not a practical proposition. When we spoke to members of committees there, they did not seem to be aware of the implications of withdrawing from the European Union, with its 450 million customers. The car industry would be in great jeopardy because of the imposition of taxes, but we will all know more about it in the next 24 hours.

We heard a submission today at the committee meeting from the National Youth Action Group which gave a very good and comprehensive report on the attitudes of young people. They argue that there is not enough in the schools system about the benefits of European membership and on how the European Union works. The Minister of State might consider this in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills. Programmes, including history modules, should emphasise the benefits of EU membership. I heard a very good submission from Ms Liz Wall, national president of the Irish Countrywomen's Association. Her organisation has put forward a most positive point about the European Union and her submission will be considered by the committee in due course. It was heartening to hear somebody who represented 10,000 women in Ireland expressing a very positive view based on the work she had carried out. Ms Maureen Kavanagh made a very interesting contribution today on older people in the European Union. Although people aged 55 years are not old, she indicated that this generation had strong memories of Ireland before accession. The post-colonial inward focus before accession to the European Economic Community meant that Ireland was an unequal and unfair society. The people concerned are absolutely satisfied with what has been achieved through EU membership. Measures that discriminated against women were lifted after we became a member of the European Union.

I congratulate the Minister of State and wish him a happy Europe Day.