Would the President tell us what will be the order of business next week? We understand that the Second Reading of the Land Bill was to be taken on Tuesday next, and the Committee Stage on Thursday.
ORDERS OF THE DAY. - ORDER OF BUSINESS.
I take it that the first opposed business on Wednesday will be the Second Stage of the Land Bill?
Yes; but the first business of the day will be the Circuit Court Appeals Bill.
When I said the first opposed business on Wednesday I did not mean technically the first business, but the first business which would be likely to result in a prolonged debate.
What we are anxious to know is, if the Committee Stage of the Land Bill will be taken on Thursday?
I do not know if it can be taken on Thursday.
The Committee Stage of the Liquor Bill has been fixed for Thursday.
Surely after all the discussion that there has been on the Land Bill, you would not want two days for it?
The important point is, will the Committee Stage of the Land Bill be taken on Thursday before the Committee Stage of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill?
An arrangement was come to that the Second Stage of the Land Bill was to be taken on Tuesday, and the Committee Stage on Thursday. If the Second Stage is not to be taken now until Wednesday, it would not be reasonable to take the Commitee Stage on the following day.
If the members of the Farmers' Party want to sit on Friday, why not give it to them?
We understood that the Committee Stage of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill was to be taken on Thursday. If the Committee Stage of the Land Bill is to be taken on that day, surely that will be enough for one day?
The arrangement was that the Second Stage of the Land Bill was to be taken on Tuesday and the Committee Stage on Thursday, but if the Dáil is not sitting on Tuesday of next week it is proposed to take the Second Stage of the Bill on Wednesday, and the Committee Stage on Thursday. I am quite agreeable to that. The only question is whether the Committee Stages of the Liquor Bill and the Land Bill can be taken on the same day?
I think it inadvisable to have the Committee Stage taken so soon after the Second Reading.
Mr. HOGAN
Then say Friday for the Committee Stage.
What will be the latest date for accepting amendments then?
If the House takes the Second Reading of the Land Bill on Wednesday and orders the Committee Stage for the next day I would be put in the extremely unhappy position of having to take amendments without any notice. Amendments have already been sent in to the Land Bill and have been examined.
Mr. HOGAN
An arrangement was come to in the case of this particular Bill, and Deputy Heffernan should not endeavour to get out of that now. The arrangement that was come to should at least be honoured. I am agreeable to have the Committee Stage taken on Friday, but apparently that does not suit the Deputy either.
Friday is an inconvenient day for the members of our party. What we are anxious about is that if important points arise on the Committee Stage of the Bill which may necessitate further amendments, that opportunity should be given on the Report Stage to have the Bill recommitted for the purpose of taking those amendments.
Arising out of this, is it the intention that the Dáil will sit for a number of weeks on only two days per week, and if that is so, what excuse can be given at a later stage regarding any delay that there may be in the Pensions Bill? I think that we ought to sit until that Bill is through, and that we ought to sit on Tuesday and Friday.
I am perfectly willing if the Deputy moves that, I indicated to-day that I was moving the adjournment of the House to-night until Wednesday next.
I did not understand that or I would have made my protest then. Excuses have been made regarding the delay in other Bills that the draftsman was overstocked with business. I know that the Minister wants to get the Pensions Bill through and I think we should get on with that.
I would be willing that the House should sit on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
I cannot accommodate the Deputy on every occasion to the exclusion of everybody else.
I did not ask for accommodation on any matter within the last three months.
We cannot separate the Deputy from his Leader on a matter where an arrangement has been come to on behalf of the Party. I presume that the Leader is still more important than the Deputy when he makes a request.
Matters of this kind could, I think, be more satisfactorily settled outside the House. I cannot understand why a matter of this kind could not be arranged between a member of the Farmers' Party and a member of the Government outside the House.
We did not get a chance to do that.
I am always open to receive representations and I rarely, if ever, refuse one.
When the Minister for Justice asked to have the Committee Stage of the Intoxicating Liquor Bill taken on Thursday the thing that immediately struck me was that there was something wrong with regard to the arrangement about the Land Bill. A question might then have been raised by a member of the Farmers' Party. I have not seen the Money Resolution in connection with the Land Bill yet, and that may make a difference. Perhaps the simplest method would be to postpone the Bill till the week following.
Mr. HOGAN
My suggestion is to take the Committee Stage of the Land Bill on Friday. That will exactly honour the understanding that was come to with Deputy Gorey. The only modification there is in the arrangement that was come to is that the Dáil is not sitting on Tuesday next. What all this comes to is that Deputies are endeavouring to take advantage of that modification and to get out of the undertaking that was arrived at.
Nothing of the kind. The Ceann Comhairle asked why all these matters could not be arranged otherwise than by a discussion in the House. We get very little chance for arriving at an arrangement. We understood some time ago that the Dáil was going to sit four days a week and we made our arrangements at home accordingly. The Dáil has not been sitting four days a week and, as a matter of fact, I left home last Tuesday evening and arrived here to find that the Dáil had adjourned.
We cannot fix the Committee Stage of the Land Bill now. The proper time to do that is when the Second Stage of the Bill has been concluded.
Deputy Heffernan pointed out that we were willing to take the Committee Stage on Thursday provided the Minister would give an opportunity on the Report Stage, if something cropped up that we did not anticipate, to move amendments.
Deputies have that opportunity without asking the Minister. He could not give it to them.
My point is that we should get a guarantee to have the Bill recommitted on Report of the necessity arises.
The Dáil will probably decide that. No one can give a guarantee on that. If amendments are of sufficient importance no objection has been taken, in my recollection, into going into Committee on the Report Stage of any Bill heretofore.
The Minister made objection when Deputy Heffernan raised the point.
Mr. HOGAN
Of course this shows clearly where all this is leading. This is an attempt to get out of the arrangement come to.
The question now is, are we adjourning until Wednesday or until to-morrow?
I am moving the adjournment to Wednesday. The first business on Wednesday will be the Circuit Court Appeals Bill. The Second Stage of the Land Bill will be taken after that, and the Committee Stage of the Army Pensions Bill next.