The Government yesterday welcomed the European Union Bill proposed by the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn.
It fully recognised the need to bring the work of the EU closer to its citizens, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, told the House during the Bill's second stage reading.
"A key element in achieving this objective is to ensure greater transparency in the conduct of Community business, thereby giving the citizen a renewed sense of ownership of what is being done in his or her name."
It was obvious, said Mr Cowen, that ongoing and effective parliamentary scrutiny was essential in this regard.
The Government would not oppose the Bill at the second stage, he said, on the ground that it had "a very positive disposition" on the principle of greater parliamentary scrutiny and participation.
"We will need to examine very closely the detailed proposals in the Bill. I have asked the Attorney General's office to proceed with the necessary detailed examination as soon as possible.
"We welcome the overall purpose of the Bill without committing ourselves as to its specific content at this particular stage, pending careful further consideration of the issues involved," said the Minister.
Mr Quinn said the Bill was primarily concerned with the fact that decisions taken in Europe were not subject to sufficient domestic scrutiny.
As the volume of legislative and administrative activity by the State had increased, the capacity of the Oireachtas to "keep up" had been brought into question.
"In recent years we have seen all too clearly the inadequacies of our less questioning ways of doing business, particularly with regard to the treatment of children in institutions. We simply did our business in an excessively uncritical fashion - and so it was with Europe."
The Bill had two purposes, he said - first, it introduced a set of procedures to enhance scrutiny by the Oireachtas of measures proposed to be taken by the EU's Council of Ministers. Complementary amendments to the standing orders of the Oireachtas would be required so that "the Houses" and their committees could adapt procedures to cope with the additional workload. If the Bill was accepted, additional resources and staff "with appropriate expertise" would be necessary.
The second purpose of the Bill, said Mr Quinn, was to amend the Defence Acts to provide for participation by the Defence Forces in the EU's Rapid Reaction Force, "but only where the RRF is operating under a UN mandate".
The Bill was also welcomed by Fine Gael. The party's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Jim O'Keefe, said it would comprehensively address the existing "democratic deficit" by focusing on the inadequacy of current Irish procedures for dealing with European legislation.