Directives coming from the EU will be scrutinised by a new Oireachtas committee before they are transferred into Irish law. The committee will hold its first full public meeting this evening.

Chair Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway said that he hoped the committee’s work would narrow the gap between decisions taken in Europe and the implications for people in Ireland.

Infringement proceedings

Peter Burke (Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs) said that any deliberations should not hinder transposition, as failure to do so on time could lead to infringement proceedings, and potentially large fines.

Draft statutory instruments will be examined before they transpose EU legislation into Irish law, in order to take account of committee views.

Deadlines set by the European Commission for the transposition of EU directives have been delayed in twice as many instances as they have been met.

When Ireland fails to carry out the task by the deadline set by Brussels, the country can rack up millions of euro in fines.