Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities debate -
Wednesday, 5 Sep 1973

Documentation Facilities in Library.

Chairman

The next matter for discussion is documentation facilities in the Library. Under that heading I should like to inform the committee that we are honoured today by two distinguished visitors who sought my permission to attend. I am very happy to have them here. Firstly I should like to introduce Mr. Dennis Corboy, Director of the Commission Office in Dublin. Mr. Corboy expressed the wish to attend today's meeting of the Committee and also informed me that his office would be happy to be of assistance to the Members of the Committee.

I feel sure that the Members of the committee will join with me in welcoming Mr. Corboy to this meeting. We warmly appreciate his kind offer to be of any assistance he can to us in his capacity as the Commission's representative in Dublin. I should also like to welcome, on behalf of the committee, the Information Officer in Ireland for the European Parliament, Mr. Joe Fahy. Mr. Fahy who recently took up this appointment also expressed a wish to attend this meeting to see how the committee works. He also has promised every co-operation to the committee in their work and will give all the assistance he can. On behalf of the committee I should like to express our appreciation to these individuals for their offer of co-operation and their attendance here today.

Deputy S. Flanagan

Mr. Jack Smith, Head of the Information Section of the EEC is also present.

Chairman

Mr. Jack Smith is also welcome. I apologise for omitting his name but he is welcome. We hope to work in the closest harmony and co-operation with these people.

I should now like to return to the question of the Library facilities. The Library and the provision of full documentary facilities for the Members of the committee are important aspects of our work. I would welcome any ideas or suggestions Members might like to put forward under this heading. However, before inviting these suggestions I should like to inform the committee of what is happening in regard to the Library.

Our Oireachtas Library staff will be augmented by the addition of an Assistant Librarian and two clerical assistants whose function will be to look after EC documentation. The clerical assistants have taken up duty and are at work in the Library on this work. The new Assistant Librarian who will be solely dedicated to this EC documentation has been selected by the Civil Service Commissioners and will be taking up his appointment in a few weeks. A section of the Library has been set aside for documentation.

Deputy S. Flanagan

Is there a physical accommodation problem?

Chairman

There probably is but nobody has indicated to us that it need necessarily interfere with the full servicing of this Committee.

Deputy Esmonde

So far as we are concerned I understand that the official publication is the "Journal". Is it possible that this publication could be posted out to each Member of this committee. This publication deals with legislative and other matters. From the point of view of delegates going to the EEC they are inundated with documents and unless they are reading 24 hours daily they cannot cover everything. It is physically impossible. With documents being circulated to all the Members of the committee there is a hope that other Members of the committee would spot something that might need noting. I do not think that the delegates would object to that.

Chairman

I would go a little further and state that we hope to have this bulletin, Agence Europe, circulated to each Member by post.

Deputy Esmonde

That would be a help to all of us. There is a time limit on a lot of these matters for the European Parliament and for this reason we should receive it as soon as possible.

Chairman

There is also a bi-weekly publication, European Report. We will consider having these three documents circulated to the Members of the committee. I feel sure that they will be a help to Members.

Deputy Staunton

The European Report, the bi-weekly document, was not in the Library when I checked. I understand there is some financial problem in so far as the funding of these European reports is concerned.

Chairman

That must not happen again.

Deputy Staunton

About two months ago the bi-weekly report was not available in the Library and that suggestion was made. I understand that these publications are available to numerous Government Departments, and I do not see why the Members of this committee cannot have them.

Chairman

If the committee agree I will seek financial provision or whatever is necessary so that each Member of the committee would be circulated with the Agence Europe, the bi-weekly report and the Official Journal.

Deputy Esmonde

Can this be done directly from the Parliament in Europe? Surely we are within the context of what is envisaged in the European Parliament. I would like to see it done that way because I believe it would be a better and a quicker way of dealing with it. It might ease work at domestic level.

Chairman

The only thing I can add on this matter is that I had a conversation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and he very strongly recommended this. I do not think that we should resist his wishes in this regard.

Deputy Thornley

In my experience the bi-weekly report is the most helpful of all.

Senator Yeats

I would be inclined to suggest that the bi-weekly report is the better one

Deputy B. Desmond

We have several issues of the Journal each week and it takes hours to sift through them. I welcome the appointment of the Assistant Librarian who will specialise in this work and who has specifically written into his terms of reference the preparation of memoranda. I think it would be better to have the bi-weekly circulated. It would probably prove adequate because from within the committee we are going to receive substantial documentation. It is hard enough to read through the material we receive at present.

Deputy Esmonde

I feel that we must receive the Official Journal because otherwise we do not have the official document in front of us.

Chairman

I understand the views of the committee and everything possible will be done to meet them.

Deputy B. Desmond

On Item 2 I think this committee should express their thanks to the Ceann Comhairle, and the Minister for Finance, for the 100 per cent increase in staff in the Oireachtas Library. I should also like to mention that this will be an Oireachtas EC Library as such. I accept that the Library will be open to all of the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas but I was wondering if since our committee is meeting in public, it would be useful to provide facilities for the press. The members of the press could make application to the Chairman, or the secretariat, if they wished to examine or see any of the official documents lodged in the Library. I can see a need for providing these facilities if the members of the Press are to understand all the documents, which are extremely complex and detailed, and which are to be discussed at the proceedings of this committee. Unless such facilities are made available to the Press it would be very difficult for them to follow all the matters under discussion at the meetings of this committee.

Chairman

That is an important point that must be considered, particularly with this flood of documentation, much of which is very complex and technical. Perhaps it would be better if the Press had access to these documents through our secretariat.

Deputy B. Desmond

Yes, through the secretariat of the committee.

Deputy Esmonde

Many establishments have their representatives in Europe, and they know how to get information. I think this should be through our secretariat. There could be difficulties in the Library. The Chairman's suggestion is the best one.

Deputy B. Desmond

I fully support it.