Vol. 557 No. 2
121 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he intends that the Oireachtas European affairs committee will be fully resourced into the future to address the perceived democratic deficit, especially as this may arise in a future referendum on Europe. [21522/02]
The Government attaches great importance to strengthening the role of the Oireachtas in relation to scrutinising the Governments approach to EU negotiations, including the development of EU legislation that affects the Irish people. For that reason, the Government earlier this year introduced significantly enhanced arrangements for Oireachtas scrutiny of EU business. The main elements of these arrangements have been put on a legislative basis in the EU (Scrutiny) Act, 2002, which became law last month.
These improvements are important for their own sake to increase accountability and transparency. They are one of the factors which accounted for the positive outcome in the second referendum on the Nice treaty and will continue to be an important factor in a positive and informed public response to Irelands membership of the EU.
Clearly, all Oireachtas committees, including the European affairs committee, need to be adequately resourced. The Deputy will be aware that the Minister for Finance is currently before the Dáil with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill, 2002. This provides for the establishment of an Oireachtas commission which will have responsibility for the management of the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas and will provide for a three year budget for the office to be drawn on the central fund.
Pending the establishment of the Oireachtas commission and in the context of staffing arrangements put in place by the Oireachtas, the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs have each allocated one officer, at assistant principal level, to facilitate the work of the European affairs committee. Another officer from my Department continues to act as a senior policy advisor to the European affairs committee and the foreign affairs committee.
