I move:
That Deputies Donal Creed, Liam Kavanagh and David Thornley be and are hereby designated as delegates to the Assembly of the European Communities in the places of Deputies Conor Cruise-O'Brien, Justin Keating and Richie Ryan.
Delegates to Assembly of the European Communities: Motion.
When the predecessor of this motion was in discussion in this House prior to the General Election, myself and several other Senators objected to the way in which names arrive before us out of the air for appointment to the European Parliament and we urged very strongly a revision of the procedure for appointing members to the European Parliament. We urged that the Government of the day should take steps to set up a Standing Committee of both Houses from which the nominations would come to both Houses. It is no pleasure to me on the first sitting of the new Seanad to make precisely the same objections against procedure adopted now as I did on the last occasion. If we are to be consistent this objection must be registered.
I should like to associate myself with the remarks made by Senator Horgan. This method of choosing a delegation to the European Parliament by the Oireachtas is a substitute for direct elections. Under Article 138 of the Rome Treaty there is provision for direct elections and our Ministers for Foreign Affairs, both past and present, have made points that we would favour direct elections. What we are doing in choosing delegates for the European Parliament is a poor substitute for the direct elections and we make it even worse by the indirect way in which we do it. I support Senator Horgan's arguments that on the wording of Article 138 it is the responsibility of the Parliament to decide how the delegates will be chosen and that the Oireachtas ought to set up a committee and set out the criteria and give these delegates a mandate. At present the delegates going from this Parliament to the European Parliament have no coherent mandate, no particular role to play and never make any statement as to what is happening in the European Parliament, as to what they feel to be the priorities there or of the importance of what is being debated. We are losing an opportunity to forge a useful link for the time being between the Oireachtas and the European Parliament by not taking the selection of the delegates to the European Parliament seriously, by not having a formal procedure for choosing these delegates and by not giving them an express mandate as to what they could be fulfilling at the European Parliament.
In principle I do not disagree with either Senator Horgan or Senator Robinson as to the desirability of the kind of procedure outlined by them. So far as this particular item is concerned, the root defect has already occurred and all we are asking today is to substitute three names for three others who are now members of the Government and were chosen before they became members of the Government. I hope some such procedure as has been mentioned may be established in the future.
I hope that in the reorganisation promised by the Leader of the House it may be considered worthwhile to give added status to the leadership of the delegation by a Minister without portfolio or at least a junior Minister for whoever leads the Irish delegation to the European Parliament.
Question put and agreed to.