Subcommittee report ‘fails to engage with key issues’ essential to resolving Lisbon Treaty impasse

27/11/2008

Independent NUI Senator and Member of the Subcommittee on Ireland’s future in the EU, Rónán Mullen, has dissented from the report of the subcommittee presented to the Joint Committee on European Affairs this morning.

“Though the setting-up of the subcommittee was a welcome response to the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty last June, the report’s contents and findings suffer from many of the same inadequacies and lack of critical engagement with issues of concern which undermined the Yes to Lisbon campaign in the first place,” said Senator Mullen.

“This cannot be said to be the report of a strong Oireachtas Committee willing to think ‘outside the box’ in response to the decision of the Irish people on the Lisbon Treaty and the need to address their concerns. Despite the integrity, commitment and hard work of the chairman and each committee member, ultimately we were unable to escape from what was in effect a Department of Foreign Affairs’ analysis of the challenge.

“There are many interesting and provocative proposals in the report, for example measures to introduce education about European Affairs into the school curriculum and greater scrutiny by the Oireachtas of EU legislation. But on bigger questions, such as the need for a ‘constitutional filter’ to enable Ireland to fully determine its policies and legislation on sensitive socio-ethical issues, the subcommittee failed to find a creative response.

“On numerous occasions, the subcommittee heard how the actions of EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice impact on issues supposed to be within the exclusive competence of member states. Despite getting chapter and verse of such instances the subcommittee effectively chose to ignore, rather than rebut or accept, this analysis.

For many Irish people, it will be essential to resolve this and other challenges before they can consider voting ‘Yes’ to any future referendum proposal. The subcommittee has missed an opportunity to make fresh, creative proposals. Therefore I cannot recommend this report to the Government or to the public as the basis for resolving the challenge posed by the Lisbon referendum result.