Seanad Select Committee on Scrutiny of EU-related Statutory Instruments to hold engagement with the Minister of State for European Affairs on its work

The Committee is an important initiative under Seanad Reform, aimed at implementing a recommendation in the 2015 Working Group Report that the Seanad be responsible for the monitoring of the transposition of EU directives into Irish law.

The role of the Committee is planned to be very focused, seeking to filter directives that involve secondary legislation and, where appropriate, refer such directives to the Oireachtas Joint Committees for detailed consideration.

Speaking ahead of this evening’s engagement, the Chairperson of the Committee, Senator Martin Conway, said:

“The main aim of this Committee is to develop a mechanism that would allow the Oireachtas to properly scrutinise certain EU directives before they become law. This would allow for us, as legislators, to identify areas where such transposing legislation could be improved or examined in more detail. In such cases, the Committee is empowered to recommend further scrutiny by the relevant Joint Committee, which has the expertise and remit to examine the proposed statutory instrument in greater detail.”

Senator Conway added:

“The Committee is now ready to commence its work, and I believe it most important that we engage with the Minister from the outset, to not just discuss the objectives of this new process, but to also communicate and draw wider attention to its work”.

Under the new process, the Minister of State for European Affairs will also engage periodically with the Committee regarding EU directives which are to the transposed into Irish law in this way.

Transposing EU Directives by statutory instruments is possible under section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972. The Act, as amended, also provides for annulment mechanisms, which allow the Oireachtas to annul a statutory instrument after it is enacted. In contrast, the role of this Committee will allow for Directives which are planned to be transposed into Irish law in this way to also be scrutinised by parliament before the statutory instrument is enacted. Further, the Committee has no role in scrutinising the provisions of Directives transposed by primary legislation, i.e. Acts of the Oireachtas.

You can view the meeting on Oireachtas TV

Read more about the work done by the Committee and its membership on the Committee’s webpage.