Vol. 402 No. 7
10 Mr. S. Barrett asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the opportunities afforded to various categories of Irish business to make submissions prior to the drafting of EC Directives; the mechanisms, if any, which are in place at present for the making of such submissions: if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there is grave concern among many Irish businesses at the lack of consultation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The initiative and responsibility for drafting EC Directives rests with the EC Commission. It is common practice for the Commission, before preparing a draft directive, to consult, in appropriate cases, with the relevant organisation representing the sector or sectors concerned at Community level, about the intended provisions of the directive and the organisations' views on those provisions. Irish business, through its national representative bodies, fully avails of such opportunity to make its views known to the Commission at such a vital, early stage in the life of directives.
In the case of proposals within my direct area of responsibility — and where a working group representative of member states is convened by the Commission to consider a proposal for a directive, it is my Department's practice, in the normal course of events, to consult with the industry or sector directly affected and to take their views into account in the course of negotiations on the final terms of such proposals for directives.
I am not aware of any concern among Irish business in the area of consultation between it and my Department on directives at the pre-drafting stage but if the Deputy would let me have details I will be glad to pursue the matter further.
The Deputy will, of course, be aware that, in the course of further consideration of proposed directives at Council group level, further opportunities exist for businesses to influence the content and final format of a directive. My own Department continue throughout to maintain a close liaison with industrial and commercial interests involved.
I would be pleased to give the Minister an instance but I am speaking generally here. Would he agree that given the sheer size and complexity of the Community bureaucracy it is extremely difficult for him as a Minister to deal with any particular problems affecting this country at Council of Minister level? Would he agree that it is essential that we have in place a proper procedure where adequate discussions can take place between Irish industry and his Department? Would he also agree that because of a lack of facilities and staff in his Department this can be extremely difficult? Would he further agree that it is in the interest of this country that a system should be set up, particularly in this House, where directives can be discussed at an early stage and there will be a platform where individual companies which could be affected by a certain proposal or directive in the future would have an opportunity to present their case to a committee of the Oireachtas and we in turn could pass on that information to the Minister through the proper political channels? I could give the Minister one instance——
Sorry, Deputy, we must have brevity and succinctness at this time.
I will be very brief. There are directives dealing with such matters as lifting equipment. This seems very innocuous and straightforward to many of us. However, we would all agree there should be certain standards. If certain proposals are proceeded with in the Commission they can have serious effects on small Irish companies at present in the process of manufacturing this type of equipment. It is that sort of instance that I want to point out——
I think the Deputy has made his point. He must not enter into the realm of debate.
It would be inappropriate to have a committee here looking at draft directives which have not yet been published. The Commission sometimes circulates its proposals in this regard privately on the basis that——
Why should they?
Because that is the practice.
Let us hear the Minister's reply.
We are elected by the people to represent their interests.
You should listen to the reply.
The Commission circulates the proposals to the Departments and in some instances it would not be appropriate, until the directive is finalised, to publish these proposals, for internal Community reasons and also because of the inestimable value such proposals would be to competitors of Community companies in third countries. There is a committee which examines these directives and their effect after they have been passed. I want to assure the Deputy that there is a very high degree of consultation on them while they are still with the Commission and subsequently while they are with Council working parties and the Council of Ministers.
