ANY MOVE to introduce a form of majority rather than unanimous voting on key European Council decisions needs the approval of both the Dáil and Seanad Éireann under the terms of the forthcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum, Minister of State for European Affairs Dick Roche said yesterday.
In practice, this means that even if the Dáil approves such a move, members of the Seanad could still block it if they so wished, he said. This effective power of "veto", if used, would affect all 27 member states, not just Ireland.
Speaking to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Scrutiny, Mr Roche outlined what he called a "revolution" for democracy within the EU.
He said the Lisbon Treaty represented "the single biggest transfer of power" to national parliaments, and, as a result, was a "revolutionary step forward" which would have been "unthinkable" 20 years ago.
Arising from this, he claimed that Ireland's elected representatives would be involved from "day one" and earlier than ever before.
Meanwhile, members of the public and representatives from several interest groups discussed the Lisbon Treaty with a panel from the Forum on Europe yesterday, raising issues such as sovereignty, immigration, workers' rights and the implications for Irish business.