The State’s top civil servant has criticised Government departments for delaying work on legislation giving effect to new regulations agreed in Brussels, in a recent private missive to all departments.
John Callinan, the Department of the Taoiseach secretary general, told senior colleagues it was “disappointing” to see Ireland’s record on European legislation had started to slip just as the Government assumed the high-profile Council of the European Union presidency.
The Civil Service-wide warning told departments to stop putting off work on EU legislation. Member states are usually given two years to “transpose” new EU rules and directives negotiated in Brussels into national law.
In a July 31st letter seen by The Irish Times, Callinan said there had been a “slight deterioration” in progress passing directives through the Oireachtas on time.
“On foot of [a] discussion at Cabinet, I have been asked to write to each of you urging that you give this the highest attention,” he told his counterparts across Government.
“The overall amount of work involved on each transposition is unlikely to be reduced by delaying it,” he wrote.
A sizeable amount of legislation originates from negotiations in Brussels between the union’s 27 governments and the European Parliament. It can be common for officials, either within or between Government departments, to argue over exactly who is responsible for drafting Irish legislation to give effect to new EU directives.
In his letter, Callinan told senior colleagues there was no excuse for Ireland missing deadlines to legislate for EU policy changes. Legal advice from the Attorney General’s office was often being sought too late in the day, “thus jeopardising the possibility of meeting deadlines, and ultimately running the risk of infringement proceedings being launched”, he said.
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Callinan said he appreciated officials were juggling many competing demands and were under pressure to follow through on commitments made in the Programme for Government.
The letter, released to The Irish Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, asked departments to allocate “necessary resources” to civil servants or units drafting legislation “at the earliest possible opportunity”.
Directives the Government is obliged to transpose this year include regulations governing the energy performance of buildings, standards in reception accommodation for asylum seekers, money laundering, and toy safety.
Ireland has 22 “overdue” directives on hand that it is late passing into law.
The European Commission can take countries to the European Court of Justice for failing to push through changes and reforms in time, which can result in recurring fines imposed by the courts.
The commission has 54 infringement cases open against Ireland for failing to write EU directives into law in time, or where the Brussels-based body has taken issue with how national legislation was drafted.
The longest-running case dates to 2007 and concerns an EU directive setting standards for water quality in rivers and lakes. A dispute between the State and the commission ended up in the European Court of Justice, which ruled against Ireland last year. In response, Minister for Housing James Browne, who is responsible for water services, said steps would be taken to belatedly bring Ireland into full compliance with EU water quality rules.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said delays transposing EU directives were not unique to Ireland. New rules hammered out in Brussels were becoming “increasingly cross-cutting and legislatively complex”, she said.
“Delays can be attributed to a number of factors and are ultimately specific to each individual directive, and to the relevant department responsible for transposing into Irish law.”