The Irish Green Party has found itself in Government for the first time during a very interesting but extraordinarily challenging period. Little did we realise when we optimistically negotiated the 2007-2012 Programme for Government with our coalition partners that we were about to face into the worst global, and domestic economic recession since the 1930’s. It was always our intention to have a substantial green component in the new Programme for Government. We negotiated that programme before the concept of a “Green New Deal” began to be promoted in political debate across the European Union, particularly in the run-up to the European and local elections in June 2009. Following those elections, and given the rapid deterioration in Ireland ’s economic circumstances since the government was formed, the Green Party negotiated a mid-term “Renewed Programme for Government” with our partners in November 2009. This renewed programme included a strengthened ‘green’ component as part of the Irish Government’s response to the economic and labour market challenges facing this country.

Economic and financial challenges

Indeed Ireland is currently experiencing a range of significant economic and financial challenges that require immediate and radical action. In addition to the obvious need to get our public finances in order, the Irish Government must identify new economic sectors that will stimulate growth, job creation and new sources of revenue for the Exchequer. In this respect, the Green New Deal could provide the both the policy framework and the necessary stimulus to promote economic recovery in this country.  And the challenges facing the Irish economy should not be underestimated. It is currently forecast to contract by 7.75% (GNP by 8%) in 2009. A further contraction is anticipated for 2010, albeit not to the same extent as this year. The sharp contraction reflects both the correction in the house-building sector and the deterioration in the external environment. The unemployment rate is currently at 12.5% – its highest level since the mid 1990s. Conditions in the labour market remain poor with labour-intensive areas such as construction and the retail sector taking the brunt of the adjustment. A return to a more sustainable pace of expansion based on export-led growth is expected in the medium term. This recovery however is dependent upon an improvement in the global economy and on implementing suitable domestic policies that position the Irish economy to take advantage of any such global recovery. For this reason, a genuine European-wide co-ordination of Member State’s economic and financial policies in support of a Green New Deal paradigm will be very important in assisting Ireland to ensure that its own domestic ‘green’ economic policies will act as a strong driver of recovery and growth in this country, and also to ensure that the European Union is in a leadership position internationally in relation to green enterprise and green technology.

Government Strategy for Economic Recovery

So where does the Green New Deal fit into the broad strategy of the Irish Government in relation to economic recovery? That government strategy includes stabilising and restoring sustainability to the public finances with an expected deficit of below the 3 per cent of GDP in line with the Stability and Growth Pact threshold by the end 2013 (or 2014 as the EU Commission has recently proposed); ensuring the economy’s flexibility and resilience through the adjustment of asset prices, wage levels and prices to the new circumstances; planning to continue to invest well in excess of the EU average in Ireland’s stock of productive infrastructure in order to enhance competitiveness ; maintaining Ireland’s relatively low burden of tax on business and investing in education at all levels in order to ensure Irish workers have the skills demanded by high-technology firms.

Developing Green Enterprise

Central to the Irish Government’s medium-term framework for economic development “Building Ireland’s Smart Economy- a Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal”- is the vision of Ireland as an Innovation Island . Opportunities for the development of green enterprise are central to this vision, recognising the need to move to a low-carbon economy. A number of initiatives are underway to identify and deliver further action. These initiatives include the establishment of an Innovation Task Force and a High Level Action Group on Green Enterprise. Other areas of focus include using public procurement as a demand-side driver of innovation to provide easier access to SMEs and innovative companies to public procurement tendering. Research and Development has also been identified as a major engine of growth for the Irish economy. A new national strategy for higher education has been launched with the aim of providing a vision and a set of policy objectives in this sector over the coming 20 years. The EU research agenda complements our national priorities with an emphasis on moving new discoveries from the research stage to the marketplace. It is anticipated that gross expenditure in Ireland on R&D should increase to 2.5% by 2013.
Unlocking the business potential of SMEs

The 2008 Global Entrepeneur Monitor (G.E.M.) Report for Ireland confirms that Ireland is at heart an entrepreneurial nation and to the fore in Europe in both the rate of early stage entrepreneurial activity, and in the rate of established entrepeneurs amongst the adult population. Against this background of a high level of entrepreneurial activity, SMEs remain very much at the centre of the Irish Government’s Enterprise policy. The Government has introduced a number of supports for the SME sector : the establishment of an Enterprise Stabilisation Fund with assistance from the EU’s Temporary Framework on State Aid to assist companies to grow internationally ; a 100 million Environmental and Clean Energy Innovation  Fund  and a further 15 million each to new or existing seed capital funds. The recommendations of the Procurement Innovation Group are also being implemented through a new initiative that should increase SME’s access to public procurement tenders.

Smart Telecommunications Technology

The ‘Technology Action to Support the Smart Economy’ report was launched by the Department of Energy and Communications in July 2009. Consistent with the need to move to a low-carbon economy, the report places particular emphasis on low energy models for communications networks and infrastructure. The actions identified in the report include implementing an Exemplar Smart Communications Network ; Energy Efficient Data Centres and Cloud Computing; International Content Services Centre and Smart Electricity Networks.

Green Enterprise Opportunities

The High Level Action Group on Green Enterprise, which is a key driver for the development of green enterprise in Ireland , was established in 2009. This group is to build on work carried out as part of a previous study on enterprise opportunities in the environmental goods and services sector. This study identified those areas which were considered to have the greatest potential: Renewable Energies, efficient energy use and management, including eco-construction, waste management, recovery and recycling, water and wastewater treatment and environmental consultancy and services. In addition to this the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment has led an Enterprise Opportunities sub-group of the Electric Vehicles group, which has examined how to exploit the opportunities for Irish business associated with electric vehicles.
Green Technology Support Scheme

Enterprise Ireland administers the Green Tech Support Scheme that was launched in 2008. The new scheme builds on the existing environmentally superior products and environmental management systems supports. The Scheme allows clients to apply for a more extensive range of supports in the area of : Implementing Environmental standards, Environmentally Superior Products, Measuring Carbon Footprint and Applying for Eco-labels. Implementation of the EU’s Eco-design for Energy-Using Products (EUP) Directive is now underway.

Renewable Energy.

The current Programme for Government sets out ambitious targets for increasing the use of renewable energy and dramatically improving energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy. The most important recent advance has been the finalisation of the EU Renewable Energy Directive. This Directive sets challenging targets for the overall penetration of renewables into energy use in 2020 (16% in Ireland ’s case) but also sets a target for renewable energy in transport of 10% that applies to all Member States. The Renewable Energy sector is expected to provide considerable new business and job-creation opportunities over the coming years. Ocean energy has the potential to provide an important source of alternative energy in Ireland , and to allow this country to become a leader in the field. A major programme of activity grants and supports to develop ocean energy in Ireland in its development stage was launched in January 2008 to support the development, piloting demonstration and testing phases. This will include a world class state-of-the-art National Ocean Energy facility based in one of our universities, the development of a grid-connected wave energy test site in the West of Ireland, grants under the Ocean Energy Prototype Fund and a new feed-in tariff under the REFIT scheme for Wave Energy.

The National Energy Efficiency Action Plan

The Irish Government is committed to achieving 20% energy savings across the economy by 2020. As part of this energy efficiency drive the Government has also committed to achieving a 33% energy saving across our public sector institutions by 2020. Ireland published its National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) in May 2009. The Action Plan sets out 90 actions that Government is already taking or will take in the period to 2020 to achieve the energy efficiency targets while reducing our CO2 emissions by approximately 5.7 million tonnes. The savings identified in the Action plan represent approximately 1.6 billion euros in avoided energy costs for the economy in 2020.

National Insulation Programme for Economic Recovery

In February 2009 Ireland launched its National Insulation Programme for Economic Recovery. The programme involves a three-pronged approach to addressing the legacy of older housing with poor energy efficiency standards. The Programme has the potential to contribute to the creation to the creation of 4,000 direct and indirect jobs thus contributing to the Government’s priority objective of maintaining and creating employment through the implementation of the Green New Deal.

Conclusion

Due to limits on space, this article has not done full justice to the scope of the Irish Government’s implementation of its ‘Green New Deal’, part of its broader strategy to promote economic recovery in this country. In particular the article has said nothing about the government’s commitment to introduce a carbon tax for the first time in the 2009 budget, and or the political agreement that has been reached to introduce domestic water charges and land-based taxes in the medium term. Instead this article has attempted to sketch the broad outlines of the Irish Green New Deal, a programme that owes much of its existence, and its innovative character, to the presence of the Green Party in Government in Ireland. Certainly much more could be done to popularise the concept of a “Green New Deal” in both our national political discourse, and at a European level. While the Irish public is aware that green enterprise and green technology will form an important part of our programme of national economic recovery, what is lacking is an understanding of the overarching policy framework or paradigm within which the significant transition to a low carbon economy needs to occur. The Irish Green Party attempted to package the various policy initiatives we were introducing in Government as part of a “Green New Deal” during the local and European election campaigns in June 2009. However, while business generally, and particularly small businesses, were very responsive to the idea, it failed to gain popular currency. The failure of the Irish public to fully comprehend what a Green New Deal represents was not helped by the fact that a co-ordinated EU-wide Green New Deal has not been fully adopted or promoted by the main EU institutions.

This is despite the fact that the implementation of a Green New Deal makes most sense at EU level, notwithstanding the obvious political challenges in reaching agreement on a genuinely European-wide financial stimulus package. Much greater economies of scale apply at EU level in relation to the development of new and essential ‘green’ transport and energy infrastructure. The provision of green, environment-related services across Europe will be greatly facilitated by the full implementation of the EU Services Directive in December of this year, and will create significant business opportunities for any Member State in which the environmental services sector is already well developed. Considerable opportunities also exist to develop EU-wide vocational training programmes and accreditation systems for green-collar jobs. As it stands, Ireland, along with other Member States, is implementing its own version of the Green New Deal at national level, but without the economies of scale, financial efficiencies and pooling of expertise that could be delivered under a genuinely European-wide approach. This is unfortunate. It is to be hoped that the lobbying efforts of the Green Group in the European Parliament will result in the mobilisation of political will at the level of the EU Commission, the Council of Ministers and the Parliament that will result in the Green New Deal being fully adopted and promoted by the European Union.as the official policy framework within which the economic recovery of its Member States is pursued.

I listened with interest to the debate today. Senators have spoken movingly about the distress of constituents throughout the country. It is right and proper that we use our positions to do that. However, there is something fundamentally unsatisfactory about the fact that at national level, all the political parties are saying the right things about flooding — how dreadful it is, asking how it happened and saying more must done through the provision of emergency funding and so forth — but at local level on the part of all the political parties there is very irresponsible zoning of flood risk areas and flood plains. Even as we speak decisions are probably being made in which people are convincing themselves that it will not make a difference or that they can zone an area if they put in certain measures as well.

It must be recognised that we are in a new era in terms of climate change. We will continue to experience the type of high and extreme levels of precipitation we have seen over recent years. Our drainage systems will be under extraordinary pressure and the type of flooding we are experiencing at present will happen again. Hopefully, we will be able to mitigate and reduce the drastic impact of that flooding, but it will happen more regularly. What we once considered to be once in 100 years storms will become once in 50 years, once in 20 years or once in ten years storms. We must do everything we can, particularly in the way we plan our communities in future, to ensure we do not worsen the situation or create an environment where people are left in the conditions we have seen through the excellent coverage by the national broadcaster. Through that coverage one is almost with the people in their kitchens, walking around with them knee high in flood waters and empathising fully with them.

One of the worst things that can happen to anybody is to have their home and belongings subject to flooding. It has an effect not just at the time of the flooding but in the weeks and months afterwards when the clean-up is taking place and one must go through the awful business of trying to find out if the insurance company is prepared to provide funding for the work required to restore the property and replace the belongings that have been damaged. We have heard many stories of insurance companies that are refusing to provide insurance to homeowners who have claimed once as a result of flooding of their property.

As people who are involved in making critical planning decisions, we cannot continue to allow this to happen. At this time when we are discussing the issue of zoning, all political parties should pledge to ensure that what they say at national level will be implemented and complied with by their councillors at local level. If they do not, they will be guilty of extreme hypocrisy. There is little good when the damage is done asking the Government to provide funds to mitigate or try to remedy some of that damage because at that stage the expense is huge. People are already trying to calculate the economic damage that has been done throughout the country as a result of flooding. Every political party must resolve that the message will go to local councillors that the flood guidelines the Minister, Deputy Gormley, is due to introduce in the near future must be adhered to.

This country must also examine the issue of the accountability we will seek if people continue to zone and make planning decisions in irresponsible ways. Recently we have seen in the banking sector how people behaved in a very reckless way and appear to date to have suffered few consequences for that behaviour, even though the livelihoods of many people have been destroyed. We must examine the planning process and if people are ignoring recommendations of planners and flood management guidelines, proceeding to zone flood plains and grant planning permission in areas that are susceptible to flooding or are recognised as flood plains, there should be some serious penalty and the people who are making those critical decisions should be held responsible. We must make this a serious issue and make the consequences clear so we can persuade councillors in future to be mindful of this when making planning decisions.

With regard to what can be done, I agree with Senator Norris’s remarks about water management. There must be better water management systems. The water framework directive is a very good policy framework for improving our water management systems. The policy is based on national river basins and catchment areas. We must ensure local authorities are working together well so they do not view this matter in terms of artificial local authority areas, but as the natural catchment areas and basins of our rivers. We need to identify flood risk and flood prone areas and flood plains in our county and local area development plans. We need to ensure full implementation of the national guidelines that will be introduced soon by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley.

We must ask local authorities to audit their drainage systems and set out clear plans over the next year or two to improve them. The Government must ensure flood protection measures in high-risk areas are implemented and that funding is providing. We will not have enough funding to implement them everywhere, but we are all aware of certain high-risk areas, including Clonmel where flood protection measures are not completed but are in progress, Bray and other areas that are regularly subjected to serious flooding.

We need to consider the issue of reservoirs and hydroelectric power stations to ensure the types of problem experienced in the past week or so do not recur. We must increase their capacities to take account of the fact that flooding will be a more regular occurrence.

I appreciate the Commission is considering the complaint at the moment. While the Commission is not prescriptive in terms of how organisations operate or the budget or resources that should be allocated, it is very clear about the functions a body such as the Equality Authority should be able to carry out and the competences it should have. If there is any further cut in the budget of the Equality Authority it could not possibly continue to function, unless we are suggesting it was over-funded in the first place. However, I do not believe anyone would suggest that. It appears to be a model of good practice and it has been recognised as such by the European Commission. It participates in EQUINET, the European Network of Equality Bodies, and it reflects very well on Ireland that we have a very proactive equality authority which is seen as a model of best practice and which operates and networks very effectively at a European Level. As far as my party is concerned, we would be loth to see any further cutbacks in the budget.

Because I am not familiar with this area, I looked at the annual report of the Courts Service where I found that the functions of the service are wide ranging and important. It manages the courts, supports the Judiciary, provides services to court users, provides and maintains court buildings and provides information on the courts to the public. It is important that the service is working effectively and efficiently. However, as others have mentioned, we are facing difficult times with regard to our public finances, and the Courts Service will need to conduct its services with less money. We must try to ensure that whatever changes take place do not have a negative impact on the front-line services, particularly customer and courtroom services.

I welcome the Bill. While it is largely technical in nature, it will introduce much more efficient operational procedures into the Courts Service which will be put into effect at the new Criminal Courts of Justice when it is opened, although the date for that is still up in the air. It will streamline procedures for custody arrangements, prevent the duplication of duties by the Garda Síochána and free gardaí for operational duties.

The Bill alters some of the structures that were put in place by earlier courts legislation so that the service can prepare for the move to the Criminal Courts of Justice complex near the Phoenix Park. This will be quite an impressive facility with 450 rooms, 22 courtrooms and ancillary facilities, and vastly improved facilities generally for both staff and the Judiciary. It will enable the courts staff to operate in a single administrative office in support of all the courts, of which there are 22, including the Central Criminal Court, the Court of Criminal Appeal, the Special Criminal Court, the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and the Dublin District Court. These will all be located in the new facility. This will allow for improved flexibility in staff arrangements, which will be important in years to come.

The Bill hopes to achieve administrative efficiencies by consolidating the court offices on a thematic, that is, criminal, basis. The District Court deals with approximately 450,000 cases per year while the Supreme Court deals with fewer than 500. Section 15 will allow the criminal aspects of the High Court office to be relocated to the Phoenix Park office while retaining a civilian jurisdiction in the existing office in the Four Courts. The Bill also requires that the head of each office, the senior sitting judge, be consulted before any such consolidated office can be established. Section 17 also allows for the administrative business of the Special Criminal Court to be dealt with by a nominated court office.

The remainder of Part 3 combines the court offices into the existing legislative structures. Essentially, the sections clarify that all previous references to a court office should be read in future as including a reference to the new combined office. Section 23 provides that there be no disruption to court business or filing of documents where court offices are being reconfigured and jurisdiction is being transferred. This is important to avoid the kind of upheaval that can sometimes occur when there is a reconfiguration of services.

Some of the other technical changes made by the Bill, as others have mentioned, are in the area of bail recognisance. I was obliged to educate myself about bail recognisance which is an obligation or bond made before a court for a person to perform some act, for example, to appear before a court or ensure the attendance of an accused person at a trial.

The various courts have slightly different rules as to who can enter a recognisance. A bond or recognisance does not always have to be entered by an individual. Where it is required from a person, the judge may accept an instrument executed by a solvent person, corporation or insurance company. In the context of bail, recognisance will be estreated, that is, forfeited on foot of a special procedure in circumstances where the person fails to appear and a warrant for arrest is issued or the person is brought before the court and the court is satisfied that he or she has contravened the terms of the recognisance.

Under the Criminal Procedure Act 1967, recognisances may be taken by a District Court judge, a District Court clerk, a peace commissioner, the governor of a prison or a prison officer designated by a prison governor. The Act provided the District Court with the options of either requiring the accused to enter a judicially determined recognisance into court or of refusing bail and remanding him or her into custody. Section 18 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 allowed the District Court judge a third option of a non-monetary recognisance, in recognition of the circumstances faced by many people in this situation. However, the wording of the Act gave rise to the potential interpretation that only a District Court judge could take a non-monetary recognisance. An amendment in this Bill allows for District Court clerks to receive this form of recognisance where the court has admitted a person to bail as part of being remanded or sent for trial or sentence. Effectively, it allows for the administrative act of taking a non-monetary recognisance to be undertaken by a District Court clerk rather than a judge.

The Bill also provides for changes in the area of temporary custody. There has been a gradual shift from employing gardaí for escort duties and transfers of prisoners for court appearances are now largely carried out by the Prison Service escort corps, which is based in Cloverhill Prison in west Dublin and has a staff of 156 and a fleet of 52 vehicles. However, occasions arise when gardaí have to resume escort duties. Part 2 of the Bill aims both to resolve these jurisdictional issues and reduce the resource burden of escorting prisoners to and from prisons in advance of the completion of the Central Criminal Court complex by allowing custody facilities to be managed by the Prison Service. While the default position is that prisoners will remain under the jurisdiction and physical control of the Prison Service officers on their way to and from court appearances, section 6 of the Bill provides that a prisoner may lawfully be placed temporarily under the control of a garda or a prison governor in a court house or place adjacent to a court house.

Section 11 of the Bill provides that the holding area officer may use such force as is necessary to carry out his or her duties in respect of temporary custody. Section 11(2) provides that the series of rules dealing with all aspects of prison regulation will only apply so in so far as they deal with the regulation of searches conducted in the temporary holding facility. Section 12 also provides that the Minister may make regulations on the standard and procedures relating to the orderly management of any place in which a person is held. I share Senator Bacik’s concerns about this section and ask for clarification on it. If it is intended to introduce safeguards for prisoners who have not yet been prosecuted of found guilty or who may be appearing as a witness, it is important that we provide proper safeguards for their treatment while in temporary custody. Otherwise, I welcome this technical but important Bill, which will achieve greater efficiencies and cost savings in the Courts Service.

We will have to face up to the irresponsible practices which reigned during the developer-led boom. I hope this legislation ushers in a new, smart era of planning. The relationships of economic renewal, development and proper planning are very strong. If we plan according to proper criteria we will encourage economic development. One of the purposes of the Bill is to ensure that the national spatial strategy, a rational plan for how we roll out infrastructure across the country, will be consistent with regional planning guidelines and development and local area plans so that there will be synergy in the various levels of planning.

Having been a county councillor on Wicklow County Council for eight years during the development boom, I was always struck by the lack of synergy in the national spatial strategy, strategic planning guidelines for the Dublin area, county development plans and local area plans. While higher level plans, such as the national spatial strategy and regional planning guidelines, required local councils to have regard to the overall strategy, they seemed to completely disregard it and drew up development and local area plans as though they were free to zone wherever they wanted according to their own rationales, instead of following a more coherent national approach in line with the Government’s commitments to both physical and social infrastructure. In the case of Wicklow, there was massive over-zoning of land without the infrastructure to back it up. Land would be zoned regardless of whether there was a commitment to provide the necessary infrastructure and the price of the land would shoot up as a result. The individual or developer who owned the land benefited significantly but it contributed little to the proper development of the county. The process of drawing up development and local area plans in Wicklow was ad hoc and based on who knew whom and who had a word in a councillor’s ear to exert pressure.

It would not be tolerable to continue that approach to planning so this Bill, into which the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, has put so much time and thought, is very welcome, even if it would have been much better had it been produced during the life of previous Governments when the building boom was at its height. In his analysis of zoning patterns around the country, the Minister has concluded that enough land is currently zoned to provide development land up to 2075. In their enthusiasm to zone land, certain councillors provided for a population which will be here long after those councillors have passed away. It is important to build some headroom into a local area or development plan, but the year 2075 is 66 years away. Rezoning enough land for six or seven decades, when the lifetime of a development plan is five years, is ridiculous.

The Bill before the House will require that local authorities have an evidence-based core strategy which underpins their development plans. In other words, they must have a sound evidential basis for the development plan and for the housing strategy which examines population trends to ensure it is based on realistic projections. The Bill will also ensure there is total consistency between local area development plans, regional planning guidelines and the national spatial strategy. It will result in a more focused land use strategy, which is badly needed. More focused land use strategies will result in a more efficient use of taxpayers’ money by allowing the State to target more accurately investment in essential infrastructure and services.

It is to be hoped the Bill will mean we will have a more compact land use strategy, which will help to ensure the proper provision of physical and social infrastructure. As we are aware, there is a lot of infrastructure that needs to be modernised and developed, including waste water treatment facilities. We also need schools, community facilities, roads and public transport infrastructure. I hope that the proper, coherent planning envisaged by the Bill will make it more feasible for Governments to be confident about investing in public transport in future. We need to bring public transport up the standards we can see in other countries, including many EU member states. We will not be able to do so, however, unless we ensure planning and land use happen in a focused and reasonable manner, based on proper population projections. Scatter-gun, ad hoc development makes it very difficult to plan for proper infrastructural provision.

The Bill will result in stronger management of land zoning. It will ensure the location, amount and phasing of land zoned for development is more closely linked to the Government’s economic policy, including the national spatial strategy, regional planning guidelines and capital investment programmes for national infrastructure.

There are other positive elements in this legislation. I note that the making or variation of a development plan or local area plan will now require the support of two thirds of the total membership of a planning authority instead of a simple majority. I am delighted to see this. I recall debates being held between councillors who wanted to promote a particular zoning about whether to go for a material contravention or a variation. Very often, the variation was chosen because it only required a simple majority of councillors. In discussing land zoning, we must ensure a significant majority of elected members of a council support a zoning according to clear criteria. For that reason, this change in the legislation is welcome.

The legislation will ensure that only minor amendments will be permitted to draft development or local area plans which have been the subject of public consultation. That is a welcome provision. In my own experience of local area plans and the Wicklow county development plan, such plans go on public display followed by a reaction from the public and developers. However, very often at the last stages of a development plan, elected members would introduce large-scale rezoning which would be thrown into the mix late at night. Planners often had to work hard to try to have those zoning proposals modified or thrown out. It was an inappropriate practice, but the Bill will ensure such practices no longer happen.

Ministerial guidelines will have greater legal force under this legislation. In all the statements that go into a development plan, the local authority will have to show how it complies with the guidelines set down by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The powers of local authorities to refuse planning permission to applicants who have been convicted of serious breaches of planning legislation are strengthened under this Bill. In addition, the use of e-planning will be improved and made more widely available. In this day and age, we need a greater use of e-planning which will make the planning code more efficient and sustainable in the long run.

I welcome the Bill and congratulate my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, on introducing it. It is substantial and important legislation that will ensure proper planning for years to come. We must put the past behind us and hope that from here on, once the Bill is enacted, we will see the right kind of planning in this country.

One reason the people voted in such large numbers in favour of the treaty was because they see Ireland’s economic future as bound up with our continued membership of the European Union. They are very aware of the critical role the European Central Bank is playing in keeping our banks afloat. There are also expectations concerning the role of the European Union in helping us to tackle other deep-seated economic problems, including the growing level of unemployment. In the coming years this will be a major issue for the public. I hope there is a good deal of fresh thinking within the Council of Ministers and other European institutions regarding a co-ordinated European effort to try to stimulate economic activity and the accompanying employment or job creation opportunities. If there is no such attempt and if individual member states simply look after their own populations, real opportunity for economies of scale in terms of large infrastructure projects will be missed.

In addition, we must pursue the stimulation of more economic activity through the full implementation of the services directive. The directive may help many environmental companies which wish to deliver services in other member states to do so. However, the framework must be in place for European-wide co-operation in the emerging area of economic opportunity, that is, the green economy. If this is to take place we must consider common training standards for green collar jobs and common accreditation systems and we must ensure the services directive is fully and effectively rolled out. We must ensure also that infrastructural projects are undertaken. We need a co-ordinated European approach. We require a stimulus package that is genuinely European rather than each member state putting in its own funding into the pot and reserving it for its own population. Major benefits could be derived from that and I hope the Minister of State will carry this issue forward and raise it at the Council of Ministers.

The incorporation of the Lisbon treaty provisions into domestic legislation is a formality but, as others have mentioned, a number of issues are worth highlighting. The key provision in the Bill is the update of the European Communities Act 1972 for a number of reasons. First, the Union will have legal personality. In other words, it will be a subject of international law following the ratification of the Lisbon treaty, which means this part of the European Communities Act needs to be updated. Once the legislation is adopted, laws made by the Union, which has effectively been founded anew by the Lisbon treaty, will have the same force and effect as those made by the Union, as established and altered by the Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice treaties and so on.

The exception relating to the European Court of Justice is included in the legislation. Section 2 gives the laws of the EU pre-eminence over domestic law. A great deal of misinformation was put out about this during the Lisbon treaty campaign. That has been the position in all previous treaties and this means the European Court of Justice will have authority to make final determinations in disputes between member states and the rights to make final interpretations of EU law, to review the legality of EU law or any measures taken by a European body and to rule on the adequacy of the member states’ transpositions of EU measures into domestic law. Ireland has felt the impact of this on a number of occasions. The treaty states the court will not have jurisdiction with respect to the provisions of the Common Foreign and Security Policy or acts adopted on the basis of provisions and the Bill reiterates that exclusion.

The issue of Oireachtas oversight is important. Section 7 provides that the Houses of the Oireachtas can exercise oversight over the changes proposed in the Lisbon treaty to legislative procedures, which are complicated by the ordinary procedure, the simplified procedure and the passerelle clause, to which Sinn Féin referred frequently during the referendum campaign. The Houses of the Oireachtas has a role in blocking these changes if they do not believe they are in the country’s interest.

European Union Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed).

On the issue of subsidiarity, section 7(3) provides that either House can adopt a resolution to prevent a particular EU legislative measure if it believes it is in breach of the principle of subsidiarity. The Seanad could have an independent role in this regard. If the proposed process of reform led to the House taking on a role scrutinising legislation without having to consult the Lower House, we could pass a resolution to block an EU measure if we believed it was in breach of the principle of subsidiarity. I welcome this important measure.

I mentioned the green new deal which is being promoted by my colleagues in the European Green Party in the European Parliament. Has the Minister had an opportunity to raise this issue at European Council meetings to see whether other member states are willing to consider an EU-wide stimulus package that would have benefits in infrastructural projects, training and accreditation programmes for green collar professions across the EU? In the service directive to be rolled out and fully implemented in December, there is great opportunity for delivering environmental services and for Irish companies to undertake such services across the EU. To provide the framework for these kinds of activities, an EU-wide approach must be taken, which would prioritise the creation of employment. Has there been any positive response to this proposal from the Minister’s colleagues on the Council of Ministers?

Others have mentioned the issue of a Commissioner and whom we might propose for the position.

I suggest we should look for a Commissioner who has very strong European credentials. The wobble recently experienced in this country in the perception of our commitment to the European project would suggest that the person we nominate as Commissioner next time round should have such credentials and should be able to communicate with the people regarding his or her portfolio and the European Union generally. It is important that we keep those considerations in mind when we come to select our future Commissioner. The portfolio is also very important. There are a number of new Commission portfolios being talked about, for example, climate change and innovation. Research and development will feature more strongly, especially when the Lisbon treaty is fully implemented. We should look positively towards these new portfolios to see if we can secure one for an Irish Commissioner.

The Presidency of the European Council is another role being discussed. It appears there are differences of opinion between those who feel the Presidency should be a strong role for somebody who would represent the EU at international level and those who do not wish to see the office becoming dominated by a person who might have a very strong international presence. What are the Minister’s views on this? Is a consensus emerging in the Council of Ministers or among the heads of state about whether that role should be low key and concerned with chairing the European Council, or one that has a higher international profile to be occupied by somebody with a similar profile?

Concerning the ongoing talks on the Copenhagen summit, because the EU has taken a leadership position on an emissions trading scheme – it set up the first emissions trading scheme in the world – one of the commitments we should look for in any international climate agreement should be the eventual establishment of a global carbon market. The experience of the EU in implementing its emissions trading scheme will allow it to inform the discussion and offer very useful advice on the establishment of a global carbon market. Issues concerning mitigation, adaptation and so on can be dealt with much more effectively in the context of a global carbon market and I suggest we promote that idea at the forthcoming GAERC meeting.

In the party’s last press conference before polling , Green leader John Gormley yesterday described as “utterly without foundation” claims that Irish people will be conscripted into a European army.

Mr Gormley said the claim was first made last year and was still being voiced on national radio today. He said that the propaganda of the No side has worked to some degree but insisted the claim had no truth.

“And on the whole question of military spending, it’s clear that the guarantees we have received is that Ireland is the author of its own destiny in that regard,” he said.

“We are proud that the guarantees we have introduced ensures that Ireland only participates in [operations] that are in line with the UN charter, that have a UN mandate and are approved by the Oireachtas and Government.”

Mr Gormley, the Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan and Senator Deirdre de Búrca said at the conference that another key reason to back the treaty was because of its direct references to combating climate change.

Mr Gormley said that the clauses on climate change had been specifically inserted into the treaty at the insistence of his party.

Mr Ryan said that if there is a Yes vote on Friday, it will pave the way for economic recovery. “The recovery starts on Saturday,” he said.

Mr Ryan also argued that a Yes vote was necessary if Irish people wanted to tackle climate change and to switch over from fossil fuel.

Green Party leader John Gormley today said Lisbon NO campaigners who question the validity of Ireland’s Lisbon guarantees are simply telling lies. Addressing the Green Party’s final YES to Lisbon campaign press conference, Minister Gormley said the 27 EU governments had given Ireland guarantees on security, neutrality, taxation and other issues.

“It is quite simply a lie to claim these guarantees are worthless. There is utterly no precedent in the 52-year history of the EU for guarantees such as this not being honoured. They will be honoured.” The Green Party leader said he hoped the Irish people will say YES to Lisbon on Friday. “I see it as the first essential step towards economic recovery,” he said.

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan said energy solidarity had been a founding principle of the original European Coal and Steel Community. “Lisbon updates EU energy policy and will help promote new, clean and renewable energy sources for future generations.”

Green Party European Affairs spokesperson Senator Deirdre de Burca said a YES vote would mean a more effective EU. “The Lisbon Treaty will equip the EU to deal more efficiently with key issues like climate change and cross-border crime and also protect workers’ rights,” she said.

Renewable energy pioneer Eddie O’Connor, and the Chair of Sustainable Energy Ireland Brendan Halligan joined the Green Party at their press conference today to back the call for a YES vote. As part of its campaign the Party unveiled pavement advertisements, which are cleaned into the dirt on Dublin’s streets. Several ‘promo bikes’ towing bus shelter size ads around the city with the message ‘Tired of the same old lies being peddled around? So are we. Vote Yes to Lisbon,’ were also on show.

The Green Party today said the Lisbon Treaty would have no effect on Ireland’s neutrality and would not force young Irish men into war. At a press conference in the European Parliament offices in Dublin, Austrian Green MEP Ulrike Lunacek joined her Irish Green Party colleagues in maintaining that the Lisbon Treaty posed no threat to neutral countries.

Lisbon Campaign Director and Green Party spokesperson on Defence and European Affairs Senator Deirdre de Burca said: “Following the results of the first Lisbon Referendum, the Government’s Millward Brown survey discovered that 48% of people voted no because they believed the Treaty would allow for military conscription. Of those who voted yes, 26% they understood that this was also the case.

“The message must go out loud and clear that the Lisbon Treaty will have no effect on Ireland’s neutrality. Young men will not go to war because of this treaty. Ireland’s Triple Lock mechanism, which was incorporated into the Irish Constitution since the second Nice referendum, bars Ireland from joining an EU Common Defence. It requires that any overseas armed deployment of the Irish Defence Forces of more than 12 soldiers must have UN authorisation, formal approval of the Irish government and be endorsed by the Dáil.

“The rejection of the Lisbon Treaty in the June 2008 referendum has been followed by the negotiation of similar but more detailed guarantees in the field of security and defence policy. One of these legal guarantees states that “the Lisbon Treaty does not affect or prejudice Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality”.

Austrian Green MEP and European Green Party spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek said: “Before our Parliament ratified the Lisbon Treaty we had very similar debates in Austria to those taking place now in Ireland. When I was a member of the Austrian Parliament we examined very closely if Lisbon posed any threat to our constitutionally protected neutrality and, as Greens, we had reservations about some of the military and defence aspects of the Treaty. It is clear that Lisbon was not written to specifically suit any one political party or one country – be it Austria or Ireland. It was designed to accommodate a European Union of 27 countries and nearly 500 million citizens, and it is, on balance, a Treaty that Greens and progressive voters can and should support.”

“There is nothing in Lisbon that threatens Austria’s neutrality and the role of our national parliament in making foreign policy decisions. The Treaty recognised the need for a UN mandate in any peacekeeping missions. And all of this is also true for Ireland.

“Lisbon gives European citizens more rights, including through the new citizens initiative. It also gives parliaments, which contain the directly elected representatives of our citizens, more influence on EU legislation both at a national level and in the European Parliament.

“The alternative to Lisbon, the status quo, is no improvement.”

Nuala Ahern, who held a European seat for the Green Party between 1994 and 2004 said: “It’s important that neutral states like Austria, Finland and Ireland support each other. On nuclear issues, we are very much in tandem. There’s room within the EU for all views. Non-NATO States like Ireland and Austria offer a countervailing force to NATO countries like France and Britain – and it’s important that our voice is heard.”