Impending proposals for parliamentary reform would facilitate greater scrutiny of European issues, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Desmond O'Malley, told the National Forum on Europe, which met in Tallaght, Co Dublin, last night.
Plans for "greatly enhanced" examination of European Union legislation were about to be published.
The all-party Dáil Reform Committee, of which he was also a member, would recommend greater opportunities for parliamentary debate on foreign and security policy as well as justice and home affairs issues.
"This scrutiny will be undertaken primarily at committee level and it will be conducted in public and televised to allow maximum publicity for proposed EU legislation," he said.
This was so the public would have an opportunity to express their views long before any final decisions were taken.