Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Kyne and I have raised several issues over the last six months relating to Inland Fisheries Ireland. We have asked for the Minister to come into the House and for the Bradley report to be discussed here. We have not succeeded with any of it. If we do not have some action in the early part of the next session, we will have no choice but to bring forward a Private Members' motion about Inland Fisheries Ireland. I am certainly not happy about what is happening there.

Our institutions are important to us, including the Dáil, Seanad and European Parliament. I congratulate the Belgian police for outing some of the issues that seem to have taken place in the European Parliament. As we all know, Brussels is the second biggest lobbying city in the world. I would hate to think that the integrity of the European Parliament is being damaged and undermined by some people accepting large sums of money. I think that at the earliest opportunity, we should have a discussion on the European Parliament in this House. We passed laws in this Chamber to give extra powers to the European Parliament, as did Dáil Éireann. It would be a retrograde step if what is perceived by the media to be happening is taking place and if Members of the European Parliament are taking large sums of money, for whatever reason. We do not fully know why. Early in the next session, we should have a debate on the powers that we have given to the European Parliament and what it is doing.