Subsidiarity[1]

The national parliament established a mechanism of subsidiarity scrutiny within the framework of the Early Warning System.

Both houses of the Irish Parliament (the House of Representatives (Dáil Éireann) and the Senate (Seanad Éireann) have set up a Joint Committee on European Affairs (JCEA). Consequently, the scrutiny procedure is common to both chambers. The JCEA thus holds responsibility for both subsidiarity checks and the scrutiny of EU legislative proposals.

Any reasoned opinion agreed upon by the JCEA is then submitted to each House during its plenary session for its own consideration as to whether or not to agree with it and send that reasoned opinion to the European Commission.

As Irish regions are not bestowed any legislative power, they are not involved as such in subsidiarity scrutiny. However, the JCEA has agreed that the Irish delegation to the CoR would act as a consultation point with respect to the local government level. Moreover, the Joint Committee may consult other stakeholders.

[1] Committee of the Regions, Report on 'Subsidiarity in the multilevel Framework of the Lisbon Treaty', Committee of the Regions, drafted by EIPA, 2011. Not published.