Seanad Select Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments completes its first engagement with the Minister of State on proposed statutory instruments.

This was the Committee’s second meeting with the Minister, following an engagement with the Minister on the Committee’s overall work last July. As part of its process, the Committee is envisaged to meet periodically with the Minister in relation to the proposed statutory instruments under consideration by the Committee.

Following this engagement, the Committee agreed that proposed ministerial regulations, a form of statutory instrument, relating to the following three Directives be referred to the relevant sectoral Joint Committees:

• Directive (EU) 2022/2380 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 November 2022 amending Directive 2014/53/EU on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment;
• Directive (EU) 2023/958 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 amending Directive 2003/87/EC as regards aviation’s contribution to the Union’s economy-wide emission reduction target and the appropriate implementation of a global market-based measure; and
• Directive (EU) 2023/959 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 amending Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union and Decision (EU) 2015/1814 concerning the establishment and operation of a market stability reserve for the Union greenhouse gas emission trading system.

The Committee also agreed that referrals were not required for proposed statutory instruments relating to the following Directives:

• Directive (EU) 2022/1999 on uniform procedures for checks on the transport of dangerous goods by road (codification);
• Directive (EU) 2022/993 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2022 on the minimum level of training of seafarers (codification);
• Directive (EU) 2022/2561 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on the initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers (codification); and
• Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union, amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 and Directive (EU) 2018/1972, and repealing Directive (EU) 2016/1148 (NIS 2 Directive).

The Committee will meet again to consider proposals for statutory instruments for the remaining Directives that are before it. These include the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (Directive (EU) 2022/2464).

Speaking after the meeting, the Committee’s Chairperson, Senator Martin Conway said:

“The Committee has reached a significant milestone in that it has now begun making its referrals to Joint Committees. The three referred yesterday will allow the relevant Joint Committee the opportunity to consider the proposed national applications of these Directives before they become law. Most importantly, we are now actively filling a ‘scrutiny gap’ by ensuring parliamentary scrutiny for EU-related rules made by Ministers in addition to the established role for the Oireachtas on EU-related Bills.”

Senator Conway added:

“I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the Minister and the relevant Government Departments for their support and engagement to date, and very much look forward to continuing our work in the months ahead.”

The Committee was established by Seanad Éireann to act as a filtering mechanism for certain directives adopted by the EU Institutions. Its role is to identify proposals that it believes warrant further consideration and refer them to the relevant sectoral Joint Committee to consider before the statutory instrument is signed into law by the relevant Minister.