Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 194: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of Council of Ministers meetings attended by Ministers at his Department for each of the past three years in tabular form; the number of decisions made by the Council at those meetings; the number of occasions on which those decisions were decided upon by a vote; the number of occasions on which Ireland voted against a decision which was adopted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19048/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The vast majority of European Union proposals which fall within the remit of my Department are dealt with by the Justice and Home Affairs Council. Details of attendance by Ministers at meetings of that Council for the years 2006 to 2008 are as follows:

Ministers dealt with a very large number of items at the relevant Justice and Home Affairs Councils. I believe that, having regard to the resources available to my Department, it would require an inordinate amount of time to determine the precise number of such items and to, in turn, examine each one.

With regard to voting, the position is that many of the dossiers handled by the Justice and Home Affairs Council are determined on the basis of unanimity. Where other voting arrangements operate, Ireland's consistent national approach at EU level is to articulate our concerns, seek support from partners and the EU institutions for them and advance our national interests through the process of negotiation. This approach has proved to be very successful.