I move:
(1) That a Select Committee consisting of 18 members of Dáil Éireann (none of whom shall be a representative in the Assembly of the European Communities) be appointed to be joined with a Select Committee appointed by Seanad Éireann to form the Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities
(a) to examine
(i) such programmes and guidelines prepared by the Commission of the European Communities as a basis for possible legislative action and such drafts of regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions of the Council of Ministers proposed by the Commission,
(ii) such acts of the institutions of those Communities,
(iii) such regulations under the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and
(iv) such other instruments made under statute and necessitated by the obligations of membership of those Communities
as the Committee may select and to report thereon to both Houses of the Oireachtas; and
(b) to examine the question of dual membership of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann and the European Assembly and to consider the relations between the Irish representatives in the European Assembly and Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann and to report thereon to both Houses of the Oireachtas;
(2) That in the absence from a particular meeting of the Joint Committee of a member who is a member of Dáil Éireann, another member of Dáil Éireann nominated by the Party to which the absent member belongs may take part in the proceedings and vote in his stead; and that members of Dáil Éireann, not being members of the Joint Committee, may attend meetings and take part in the proceedings without having a right to vote;
(3) That members of Dáil Éireann who are representatives in the Assembly of the European Communities be notified of meetings and be allowed to attend and take part in the proceedings without having a right to vote;
(4) That the Joint Committee, previous to the commencement of business, shall elect one of its members to be Chairman who shall have only one vote;
(5) That all questions in the Joint Committee shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting and in the event of there being an equality of votes the question shall be decided in the negative;
(6) That every report which the Joint Committee proposes to make under this Order shall, on adoption by the Joint Committee, be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas forthwith, whereupon the Joint Committee shall be empowered to print and publish such report together with such related documents as it thinks fit; and
(7) That five members of the Joint Committee shall form a quorum of whom at least one shall be a member of Dáil Éireann and at least one shall be a member of Seanad Éireann.
The next step in the process of appointing the new Joint Committee has been reached. This House is asked to approve a motion appointing a Select Committee, consisting of 18 Members of the Dáil, to be joined with a Select Committee appointed by the Seanad, to form the Joint Committee. The Seanad has already passed a similar motion.
When Ireland joined the European Economic Community, a new legal order was adopted, which now takes precedence over the national systems of law-making in the areas covered by the Treaties. The ability of the Community to enact laws in many important areas, meant a distinct limitation of the powers of the Oireachtas, and it was against this background that the Joint Committee on Secondary Legislation was established, by expediency motions passed by both Houses in July 1973, the object being to allow the Oireachtas to influence Community legislation in those areas where the Houses had had to surrender their exclusive powers, and to supervise the implementation of such legislation in Ireland. The Joint Committee is dissolved when the Dáil and Seanad are dissolved, and must be reconstituted by order passed by each House, after a general election.
The terms of reference of the Joint Committee give the Committee authority to examine Community legislation at three stages in the process of its adoption. It may examine legislation at the draft stage, it may examine Community Acts, and it may examine ministerial regulations made under the European Communities Act 1972, and instruments made under other statutes in order to implement our Community obligations.
I would like to pay tribute to the work of previous Joint Committees, all of which have done vast amounts of work with very little public recognition. I should like to join, of course, to that a tribute to the staff who have been so helpful to the Joint Committees in the past.
Much of the Community legislation is of a highly complex and technical nature, which makes the task even more demanding. The Joint Committee selects for examination, those draft Acts which they consider of particular importance to Ireland, and they examine all statutory instruments made to implement Community laws. Reports, to the Houses of the Oireachtas, are then prepared. During the last session, 94 reports were prepared by the Joint Committee, nine of which were considered by the Seanad. Of these nine, two were also considered by the Dáil.
The subject of the Joint Committee was last raised in this House on 2 December 1981. On that occasion the proposed terms of reference of the new Joint Committee were approved. In addition to its mandate to examine Community legislation, the Joint Committee will further undertake the extremely important task of examining the relationship between the National Legislature, and the European Parliament. This will encompass the examination of various suggestions about participation of our MEP's in the work of the Dáil and the Seanad, and their role as regards the Joint Committee itself, as well as the question of the so-called dual mandate.
We must remember that although we have, at present, no Joint Committee, the flow of legislation from Brussels has not been halted. It is, therefore, extremely important that the Joint Committee be reconstituted without further delay, in order that it may resume its work and so I ask the House to give its approval to this motion. Finally, I should like to welcome the new Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Affairs to his new post and wish him every success.