Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome Mr. Barry Andrews, Mr. Ciarán Cuffe, Ms Clare Daly and Ms Frances Fitzgerald. I also welcome a former MEP, Senator Lynn Boylan, who is sitting on my right. She has a wealth of experience in Europe and I want to acknowledge that. The four MEPs present are diverse and a good choice for Dublin. Everyone who is an MEP representing the constituency of Dublin is exceptionally experienced, as previous speakers have said. That is worth acknowledging.

It is nice to be here, but let us not fool ourselves. We have talked about Seanad reform for long enough. Everyone here on my left and right is conscious of what we have been talking about.The Tánaiste, when he addressed the Seanad last year, talked about EU legislative scrutiny, which he saw as an important role for a bicameral parliament and the Taoiseach is also on record in that regard. I thank the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Senator Mark Daly, who proposed a Bill in 2013. The then Senator Mark MacSharry made a very elegant speech in which he talked about the need for scrutiny and reform. We can either be radical or redundant in this House. Are we going to be just a talking shop? Are we here to just listen to what the MEPs, who are exceptional, have to say? We need to do more. How can MEPs assist Senators in this House in giving legislative scrutiny real teeth?

I took the time recently to read a document prepared by the UK's Institute for Government entitled "Parliamentary scrutiny of European Union legislation". Ireland was one of the ten countries on which the report focused. The report is really interesting. On the German Bundestag, the report says that the scrutiny process is supported by a very large European affairs directorate within the Bundestag. Regarding Sweden, the report finds that significant scrutiny took place after the Lisbon treaty and that the position has radically improved. In the Netherlands, the authors find:

... debates in advance of Council of the EU meetings create ‘de facto mandating’ by the legislature of the government’s position. Once a committee or the plenary has made clear its position on a particular proposal, it is unthinkable’ that the government would take a different position in negotiations.

That is very restrictive. On Ireland, the authors say that the "Oireachtas has no legal or political mandate over EU matters: the government is merely obliged to take the Oireachtas’ opinion into account." That is the challenge for us and we have to do something really different. That is what is important for us in this House. Asking people to come in here to talk to us is all very well and while it is great to see our MEPs, two of whom were former Deputies in my constituency whose political careers have moved forward greatly, we need to go further. We must reform Seanad Éireann to make it more meaningful and more supportive of MEPs in their work.

Ms Fitzgerald touched on the European Green Deal. As a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I am anxious that we get the message out about the green deal. It is the responsible thing to do but we must underline the importance of a just transition. That is going to be the challenge. We cannot simply engage in greenwashing or talking about what is great. We must convince people and bring them along. Ireland is unique in Europe in the sense that our citizens strongly support the European Parliament and engage with it. In the past our citizens, me included, looked out across the water to the UK and Europe to vindicate our rights, lift us up and hear what we had to say on having a more liberal, open and inclusive agenda. We turned to Europe and its institutions to defend our rights and we owe those institutions a great deal. It is important that Members of this House work closely on that.

I invite our guests to elaborate on their views regarding the Horizon Europe programme which started this year and runs until 2027. Innovation, technology and the logistics of the future are where it is at now and we have a real opportunity to tap into that. Again, I thank our guests for coming to the House. We must collaborate more. We cannot leave this Chamber today and claim to have had a successful meeting unless this is the beginning of a process and of a relationship that will make the work of our MEPs and our work more meaningful for the people we represent.