Combating Firearms Trafficking and other Firearms-Related Offences: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-17
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Maria McCormack (SF), Labour Panel

Sinn Féin will oppose this motion on the basis that the Government has unnecessarily chosen to opt in on an Article 4 basis rather than Article 3. Sinn Féin supports robust measures to combat firearms trafficking - of course we do - but we will not support a broken-down legislative process that surrenders democratic scrutiny and strips future Governments of their legislative scrutiny and legislative sovereignty. Once again, the Government is rushing to opt in to an EU measure under Article 3 of Protocol 21 when a perfectly viable, flexible alternative exists under Article 4.
References to urgency here are completely baseless. Let us be completely clear about the difference. The Minister claims there is an urgent deadline next week. The deadline is entirely self-inflicted. An Article 3 opt-in forces to bind ourselves to this text right now during negotiation, whereas Article 4 allows Ireland to opt in at any point in the future. Why then do we need to do this? This issue is replicated across a plethora of legislative proposals the Minister has brought forward since his appointment. Why does this Government refuse to preserve Ireland's flexibility or facilitate meaningful scrutiny of his proposals? Why do Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Ministers have such an appetite for tying the hands of future Irish Governments? We saw it with the EU asylum and migration pact and we are seeing it again today with the firearms trafficking directive. I think it is an attempt by Ministers to cede authority to Brussels so that when things go wrong down the line, they can look the Irish public in the eye and say, "Our hands are tied; blame the European Union", whereas what the Minister should be fostering is an open, transparent process where the public can see their political institutions openly considering and debating proposals.
This motion was added to the Seanad schedule on Monday evening. It is common for us to witness entire proposals being rushed through with sometimes virtually no scrutiny, especially in the case where the Minister extends provisions of Bills multiple times at various stages. Let us be very clear: if the Minister had a solid, robust justification setting out why an immediate Article 3 opt-in was necessary, he could have brought the proposal forward months ago. Instead, we are dealing with a manufactured urgency. This really undermines the democratic process. It is part of a wider, deeply concerning pattern of poor legislative practice, rushed Bills, guillotined debates and missed transposition deadlines.
It is the responsibility of this House to scrutinise proposals from the Minister. I put on the record my utter disgust at this repeated poor parliamentary practice. Sinn Féin will not support this motion. The Irish people have been losing respect for the democratic process in recent times. It is completely unacceptable that there has not been proper scrutiny here.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-17