McDowell calls for Irish model of EU

The Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, has suggested that Ireland put forward its own model of the future EU to reflect our…

The Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, has suggested that Ireland put forward its own model of the future EU to reflect our national interests in the current debate on the Union's development.

Mr McDowell said the future of the EU was "too important to be delegated to a narrow and unrepresentative policy priesthood who see themselves to be the sole guardians of the holy flame." He noted that those most expert in European affairs tended to be funded from the EU centre.

He was speaking at the annual Cearbhall O Dalaigh memorial dinner in Dublin last night.

Saying he was speaking in a personal capacity, Mr McDowell rejected the description of the debate on the EU's future as "between EU supporters and Euro-sceptics". He said the majority of Irish people believed their democratic and economic well-being lay within the EU.

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However, the debate in Ireland on the future of Europe must move away from "a political Punch and Judy show between highly subsidised Eurofederalists on the one hand and highly ideological Euro-sceptics on the other". Instead there must be "a genuine debate in which the great majority of public representatives participate and in which the public expresses its real opinion on the kind of European Union which the Irish people want."

He said the focus of political debate on Europe was skewed away from elected politicians and towards "people heavily influenced by their highly particular perspective and agenda". Mr McDowell said there was a major democratic deficit in Ireland's interaction with the EU.

He pointed to the absence of Oireachtas involvement in formulating Irish policy on matters such as European directives and regulations.

He said: "It would be naive, I think, to assume that the model of a future EU most acceptable to the major states would necessarily coincide with that most desired by the smaller states . . . The process of designing the future EU might be a lot more democratic, credible and effective if states such as Ireland took the initiative in advancing a clear and well thought out model which reflected our own vital national interests."