Seanad Select Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments publishes information notes provided to Committee

Commenting on the decision to publish the material relating to 15 directives considered by the Committee, the Cathaoirleach of the Committee Senator Martin Conway said: “The Committee took this decision with the objective of communicating and being transparent as to its work, and to highlight some of the key areas of policy where this Committee may have an impact.

“While not every directive required a Statutory Instrument to be transposed, it is important that the Oireachtas continues to develop a role in filling the ‘scrutiny gap’ on EU rules transposed into Irish law in this way.”

The material is now available on the Oireachtas website and will be updated with further documentation as the work of the Committee progresses.

The Committee is currently considering eight of the proposals and expects to make decisions on whether further scrutiny is required in the coming months. These Directives are as follows:

• Directive (EU) 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union;
• Directive (EU) 2022/2381 on improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies and related measures;
• Directive (EU) 2022/2464 as regards corporate sustainability reporting;
• Directive (EU) 2022/2556 as regards digital operational resilience for the financial sector;
• Directive (EU) 2022/2557 on the resilience of critical entities;
• Directive (EU) 2023/946 as regards the inclusion of improved stability requirements and the alignment of that Directive with the stability requirements defined by the International Maritime Organization;
• Directive (EU) 2023/970 to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms;
• Directive (EU) 2023/977 on the exchange of information between the law enforcement authorities of Member States.

The remaining seven directives were previously considered by the Committee at its meeting of 21 November 2023, with three directives referred to the relevant sectoral joint committee.

The purpose of the Seanad Select Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments is to act as a filtering mechanism for certain directives adopted by the EU Institutions. Its role is to identify proposals for statutory instruments transposing EU directives into Irish law, where it believes further consideration is warranted. It may refer and recommend further scrutiny of proposals for such statutory instruments to the relevant sectoral joint committee before the statutory instrument is signed into law by the relevant Minister.