The Minister for Justice has ruled out any possibility of Ireland agreeing to give EU institutions an input into domestic criminal law, saying the suggestion has now emerged at the Convention on the Future of Europe.
The former Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, yesterday put a discussion document on the matter to the convention's working group on police and legal co-operation.
The paper raises the possibility of a number of changes that Mr McDowell believes would allow unacceptable encroachment by the EU on sovereign national control over criminal law. Mr Bruton is chairman of the working group.
The convention is to produce a report which will form the basis for political discussions between the EU member-states on a new European treaty in 2004.
While many convention members are "Euro-federalists" the Programme for Government committed the Fianna Faíl-PD Coalition to opposing moves towards a European "superstate".
Mr McDowell, who has strongly opposed any EU encroachment on the Irish legal system in the past, said yesterday that many of the suggestions put forward by Mr Bruton's paper were "simply not on".
The paper raises the possibility of abolishing the national veto in certain areas of criminal law. "Would sticking to unanimity mean practically the end of any dynamic policy in this area?", it asks.
Mr McDowell said that the Government would oppose any such changes, and that the Irish people would never vote for them.
"The European Union does not have criminal competence in respect of its citizens. It will never be able to determine criminal law, procedures and punishments," he said.
"This is a fundamental issue. They are talking about giving the EU powers in relation to the substance of criminal law and criminal law procedure, and giving the European Court of Justice a role in determining these matters. That is simply not on. Criminal law is the competence of each member-state."
The paper presented yesterday said it was "merely to facilitate the discussion" at the meeting.
However, Mr McDowell suggested it would not pose questions as to whether the EU should be given competence in member-states' criminal justice systems unless the convention was open to agreeing to do this.