I move:—
"That the Bill be now received for final consideration."
Public Business. - Local Elections and Meetings (Postponement) Bill, 1931—Final Stages.
Question put, and agreed to.
Ordered: That the Fifth Stage be taken now.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
I have not anything new to say on this stage of the Bill. We on these benches expressed our opposition to this measure when it was before the House on previous occasions. That opposition is still maintained. We believe that this Bill is, to a certain extent at any rate, playing fast and loose with public bodies and local administration. We cannot see that there is any need for a Bill of this kind. There is nothing before the House that would entitle the Minister to ask for the postponement that he proposes in this Bill. All the machinery of public bodies could be carried on, including ordinary statutory meetings, elections of chairmen, and the like, without in any way interfering with any proposition which the Minister may make later on to abolish local government in certain aspects. The Bill, in our opinion, is quite unnecessary. There is no adequate reason offered by the Minister, or any of those who have spoken in favour of the Bill, why it should be passed through the House. If the Minister insists on pressing the measure we will have to maintain our opposition even to the extent of voting against it.
The Dáil divided: Tá, 64; Níl, 38.
Tá.
- Aird, William P.
- Beckett, James Walter.
- Bennett, George Cecil.
- Blythe, Ernest.
- Bourke, Séamus A.
- Brodrick, Seán.
- Byrne, John Joseph.
- Carey, Edmund.
- Coburn, James.
- Collins-O'Driscoll, Mrs. Margt.
- Conlon, Martin.
- Connolly, Michael P.
- Cosgrave, William T.
- Craig, Sir James.
- Daly, John.
- Davis, Michael.
- Doherty, Eugene.
- Dolan, James N.
- Doyle, Peadar Seán.
- Duggan, Edmund John.
- Dwyer, James.
- Egan, Barry M.
- Esmonde, Osmond Thos. Grattan.
- Fitzgerald, Desmond.
- Fitzgerald-Kenney, James.
- Good, John.
- Gorey, Denis J.
- Haslett, Alexander.
- Hassett, John J.
- Heffernan, Michael R.
- Hennessy, Thomas.
- Hennigan, John.
- Henry, Mark.
- Hogan, Patrick (Galway).
- Holohan, Richard.
- Jordan, Michael.
- Kelly, Patrick Michael.
- Law, Hugh Alexander.
- Leonard, Patrick.
- Lynch, Finian.
- Matthews, Arthur Patrick.
- McFadden, Michael Og.
- Mongan, Joseph W.
- Mulcahy, Richard.
- Murphy, James E.
- Myles, James Sproule.
- Nolan, John Thomas.
- O'Connell, Richard.
- O'Connor, Bartholomew.
- O'Donovan, Timothy Joseph.
- O'Hanlon, John F.
- O'Higgins, Thomas.
- O'Leary, Daniel.
- O'Mahony, The.
- O'Sullivan, John Marcus.
- Rice, Vincent.
- Roddy, Martin.
- Sheehy, Timothy (West Cork).
- Thrift, William Edward.
- Tierney, Michael.
- White, John.
- White, Vincent Joseph.
- Wolfe, George.
- Wolfe, Jasper Travers.
Níl.
- Aiken, Frank.
- Allen, Denis.
- Anthony, Richard.
- Blaney, Neal.
- Boland, Gerald.
- Boland, Patrick.
- Bourke, Daniel.
- Brady, Seán.
- Broderick, Henry.
- Carty, Frank.
- Clancy, Patrick.
- Houlihan, Patrick.
- Kennedy, Michael Joseph.
- Killilea, Mark.
- Kilroy, Michael.
- Lemass, Seán F.
- Little, Patrick John.
- Maguire, Ben.
- MacEntee, Seán.
- Corkery, Dan.
- Crowley, Fred. Hugh.
- Crowley, Tadhg.
- Davin, William.
- Derrig, Thomas.
- De Valera, Eamon.
- Fahy, Frank.
- Geoghegan, James.
- Gorry, Patrick J.
- Goulding, John.
- Hogan, Patrick (Clare).
- O'Kelly, Seán T.
- O'Reilly, Matthew.
- O'Reilly, Thomas.
- Ruttledge, Patrick J.
- Ryan, James.
- Sexton, Martin.
- Sheehy, Timothy (Tipp.).
- Walsh, Richard.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Duggan and P.S. Doyle; Níl, Deputies G. Boland and Allen.
Before the result of the division is announced from the Chair I desire to say that I was not recorded in the voting although I gave my name before the Tellers came down to the Chair with the division lists.
The Deputy did not pass through the Division Lobby?
I did.
Did the Deputy pass——
I did pass through the Division Lobby. I am speaking within my own knowledge, and what a Deputy of this House says of his own knowledge should be accepted by the Chair.
I merely asked the Deputy a question. The Deputy did pass through the Division Lobby?
I did.
And the Deputy is not in the count?
I do not know anything about that; but I did pass through the Division Lobby, and I did indicate to the Tellers how I desired to vote.
The sheet as signed by the Tellers records the voting as Tá, 64; Níl, 38. If an error has taken place in regard to Deputy Flinn's vote that can be remedied in the division lists. I am bound by the figures supplied to me by the Tellers. The motion is carried.