Ministers warned to enact EU directives

The Taoiseach has written to all Ministers, including the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, warning them to put into law almost 50 outstanding EU directives before Ireland assumes the EU presidency on January 1st next.

Mr Ahern has authorised extra legal resources for each Government Department in an attempt to clear the backlog, The Irish Times has learned.

In his letter, the Taoiseach warned Ministers of the negative consequences for Ireland if sufficient progress was not made in time.

He has asked the Chief Whip and the Attorney General to ensure that transposition measures are given the highest priority.

He has also asked the Minister for European Affairs, Mr Dick Roche, to monitor each Department and to report on progress at the Cabinet committee on European affairs, due to meet this week. Senior civil servants are meeting Mr Roche regularly on the issue.

In his letter to Ministers dated April 10th, Mr Ahern said he wanted to "underline the importance of ensuring that all European Union measures are transposed in a timely manner, in particular, that we are fully up to date in transposition by the time of our presidency in 2004".

He said it was "particularly important" that Ireland was in a position to give a lead on this issue.

Mr Ahern pointed out that under the Lisbon Agenda, the European Council agreed last year to achieve a transposition of 100 per cent for all directives more than two years overdue.

"So far, we have failed to meet this target," Mr Ahern told Ministers in correspondence released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

Ireland is the third-worst performer of the EU's 15 member-states on transposing EU directives. As recently as April, our backlog of untransposed directives was growing faster than every other member-state, except Italy, according to the European Union's Internal Market Scoreboard report.

Mr Roche said last night Ireland would face humiliation if Departments failed to "pull their socks up".

"The Taoiseach spotted this personally and the Ministers have been made aware in no uncertain terms to get in line," he told The Irish Times.

He added he had "not been much pleased with what I have found" since the matter was identified for immediate action at the beginning of the year.

On January 1st, Ireland had failed to transpose 98 instruments. Since then that figure has fallen to 48, according to the Government.