asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will publish, for the information of both Houses of the Oireachtas, a summary monthly statement of the main developments in the deliberations of the Council of the European Community under the following headings: (a) proposals submitted by the Commission to the Council during the month being reported on and (b) decisions taken by the Council in the same month.
Written Answers. - Developments in the European Communities.
10.
Comprehensive arrangements already exist enabling Members of the Oireachtas to keep themselves informed of developments in the European Communities.
The Library of the Houses of the Oireachtas, as a depository library of the European Communities, receives all the publications of the Communities. These include its Official Journal, in the legislation series, which contains the texts of regulations and other acts adopted by the Council and the Commission. In addition, under arrangements agreed at the time of Ireland's accession to the Communities, my Department furnishes to the Oireachtas Library all Community documents containing proposals by the Commission to the Council for Community legislation. Furthermore, the Oireachtas Library is supplied with copies of the press releases issued at the conclusion of each meeting of the Council of the Communities which summarise the deliberations and decisions of the Council.
All the foregoing documents are available in the Oireachtas Library to Deputies who wish to consult them. My Department also provides regularly, in the six-monthly reports which it prepares, detailed summaries of significant developments in the Communities.
Given the substantial amount of information available, I do not see the need for monthly statements of the type suggested by the Deputy. The regular preparation of such statements would make considerable additional demands on already limited staff time and resources. This would not, in my view, be justified given that the material on which it would be based is already readily available to Deputies from existing sources.