I move that this Bill be received for final consideration. There were no amendments put down for the Committee Stage and I took it that Deputies would be willing to dispense with the period between the Fourth and Fifth Stages as the Bill is certainly urgent. A number of tangles exist here and there through the country, arising out of the period when there was conflict of jurisdiction between two sets of courts, and the matter can only be dealt with in the way set out in the Bill.
DÁIL IN COMMITTEE. - DÁIL EIREANN COURTS (WINDING UP) ACT, 1923, AMENDMENT BILL, 1924 (FOURTH AND FIFTH STAGES).
Question put—"That the Bill be received for final consideration."
Agreed.
I move "That Standing Order 88 be suspended to permit the Fifth Stage of the Dáil Eireann Courts (Winding Up) Act, 1923, Amendment Bill, 1924, being taken on to-day, Wednesday, 18th June."
This is the second time the Minister has made a motion of this kind to-day. Will he be prepared to take a pledge and promise that in future he will not ask us to suspend Standing Orders twice in one day? It is a bad precedent. I recognise that the present situation is such that legislation has got to be rushed through and discussion is becoming a farce. But even so, I do think the Minister should not come down twice on the one day and suggest suspension of Standing Orders unless a condition of real crisis exists. I am not disposed to protest in this case as strongly as I otherwise might, because this Bill has been before the Dáil for a considerable time. But I do think that the suspension of Standing Orders is unnecessary. The Bill might easily have been advanced more in its earlier stages and might have gone to the Seanad before now. From the point of view of precedent, I hope the Minister will admit the inadvisability of continually adopting this course and indicate to us what his procedure will be in the future.
The course adopted by the Minister in normal conditions would be undesirable, but to my own knowledge there are some cases likely to crop up under this Bill which make the measure urgent. I hope the Minister will give us an assurance that he will not endeavour to convince the House in the same way in regard to his attitude in respect of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill.
If Deputy Cooper had registered his protest with regard to the Dublin Police Bill he would have been on somewhat stronger grounds than he is with regard to the Bill at present under consideration. There was no discussion on this Bill on Second Reading; no amendment was moved on Committee Stage, and I regarded it as a proper and wise economy of the time of both the Dáil and the Seanad to ask that the period between the Fourth and Fifth Stages be dispensed with to enable the Bill to be brought immediately to the Seanad. There is, further, the fact that the Bill is administratively urgent, that these tangles, with all their possibilities of trouble and disorder, exist here and there through the country, and it is necessary to deal with them in the manner prescribed by the Bill. I do not quite understand what the Deputy meant by saying that the earlier stages could have been expedited, and that the Bill could have been in the Seanad by now. The question took some investigation, and we had to consult with other Ministries as to the best manner of dealing with the troubles that exist. There was a good deal of pressure of work departmentally, and I think the Bill could scarcely have been introduced here very much sooner than it was introduced.
I was not referring to the introduction of the Bill, but to the delays that have taken place since it was introduced.
It was crowded out like other Bills of mine to make room for more interesting matter.
Motion put and agreed to.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
Agreed.
Bill ordered to be sent to the Seanad