Written answers

Wednesday, 30 January 2008

Department of Foreign Affairs

Legislative Programme

8:00 pm

Photo of Martin ManserghMartin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 585: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of Acts passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas sponsored by his Department in each year from 2003 to 2007; the Acts which were legislation wholly or mainly required by Ireland's EU obligations, which were partly so required, and which had no significant or minimal reference to EU legislation; and if in the first two cases Ireland had significant discretion, as to the manner in which EU obligations were translated into domestic law. [1199/08]

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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There have been five Acts passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas sponsored by my Department since 2003.

Diplomatic Relations and Immunities (Amendment) Act 2006

The Act was not wholly or partly required as a result of EU obligations and contains no significant reference to EU legislation.

British-Irish Agreement (Amendment) Act 2006

The British-Irish Agreement Amendment Act 2006 is a short technical amendment to the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 establishing the North/South Implementation Bodies. The amending legislation was necessary to clarify, in the context of alterations to EU funding structures, the interpretation of certain terms used in the original Agreement and legislation establishing the Special EU Programmes Body. The Act gives domestic legal effect to an international agreement with the British Government entered into by an Exchange of Letters dated 25 July 2006.

European Communities Act 2007

European Communities (Amendment) Act 2006

European Communities (Amendment) Act 2003

The European Communities (Amendment) Act 2003 was enacted to amend the European Communities Act 1972 in order to enable the State to ratify the Accession Treaty providing for ten new Member States to join the EU and to allow for the relevant parts of that Treaty to become part of the domestic law of the State.

Likewise, the European Communities (Amendment) Act 2006 amended the European Communities Act 1972 in order to enable the State to ratify the Accession Treaty providing for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU and to allow certain parts of that Treaty to become part of the domestic law of the State. Both of these Acts were required by Ireland's EU obligations.

The European Communities Act 2007 was enacted in order to address the issues which arose as a result of the findings of the Supreme Court in the Browne (Browne v A.G. and others [2003] 3 IR 205) and Kennedy (Kennedy v A.G. and others [2005] IESC 36) cases. Those cases related to the use by the State of secondary legislation as a mechanism for giving effect to European Community law and policy in domestic law. In those cases, the Supreme Court found that a statutory instrument to give effect to EC law can only be validly made where the Oireachtas has specifically provided for this in the relevant primary legislation.

The effect of the Browne and Kennedy judgments was that the State had to revise the manner in which EC law is implemented into domestic law by secondary legislation. The 2007 Act confirmed the validity of existing statutory instruments which were susceptible to legal challenge as a result of the Browne and Kennedy cases. In addition, the 2007 Act contains a provision which provides, in effect, that statutory instrument making powers contained in primary legislation may be used to implement EC measures provided that the legislation in question relates to those areas covered by the particular EC measure.

The 2007 Act also provides Ministers with the power to create indictable offences by means of regulations made pursuant to the European Communities Act 1972, where a Minister considers it necessary for the purposes of implementing EC law (subject to certain restrictions). Until the enactment of the 2007 Act, regulations made under the 1972 Act were restricted to the creation of summary offences.

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