The current position on the transposition of EU Directives for which my Department is responsible indicates a total of 25 directives to be implemented, including six for which the deadline for implementation has passed. Details of the directives are available on my Department's website at www.entemp.ie/ecd/eudirectives.
A letter of formal notice, under Article 226 of the treaty, has been issued by the European Commission in the case of three of the outstanding directives for which the deadline for implementation has passed. In addition, certain aspects of the transposition measures introduced to give effect to two directives – dating, respectively, from 1987 and 1989 – are also the subject of legal action by the European Commission. My Department is in communication with the Commission with regard to the issues concerned.
At any point in time there will be a number of other directives in respect of which legal proceedings had commenced, but where the directives in question have since been transposed. The legal proceedings in these instances usually lapse although their formal withdrawal may take a long time to complete. No systematic record of such directives is kept since it would serve no useful purpose to do so. The Commission may on occasion, notwithstanding the fact that the directive has been transposed, proceed with a referral to the European Court of Justice and this has occurred in one such recent case.
I am satisfied that my Department is giving all due priority to the task of implementing the provisions of EU directives in light of the available resources.
