It is proposed to take business as on the Order Paper. On item 5 consideration will be given to Votes 65 to 3; after Vote 66, Vote 1 will be taken.
Order of Business.
At what stage of the proceedings may I indicate that I propose to raise the subject matter of Question 21 on the Adjournment this evening, if the Chair approves?
The Deputy's intention is noted now.
Arising out of the order of business, I want to enter a protest against what I think is the lack of consideration shown by the Government to other Parties in the House. When we adjourned last Thursday night we understood that the Estimate for the Department of the Taoiseach was to be taken after Vote 66. We are informed to-day that it will not come on after Vote 66 and that it has been put at the end of the Estimates. Other Estimates, which we were told would not be taken until Wednesday or Thursday, were injected into the order in such a way as to throw them out of their normal course. I can quite understand that there may be some necessity for making a revision of the order in taking the Estimates, but I think it is unfair and unreasonable that this should be done at such short notice, without any intimation to any of the Parties, so far as I can discover, until such time as this order had been irrevocably fixed. I knew nothing of the proposal until to-day. We might have been told on Friday, Saturday or Monday that they were being taken, but nothing was done until to-day. I think the Taoiseach will recognise that it is unfair to do that at short notice.
The position was that the Minister for Finance came to my office yesterday and told me that he would be able to take his Estimate, which it was intended should be taken before the others, to-day. I thought that the Parties had got earlier notice.
Not until to-day.
We did not know ourselves until yesterday.
Is there any difficulty in leaving that Estimate over until to-morrow?
We will see how things go. The point is that everybody knew that the Estimates were about to be finished, and that the two main Estimates left, after the External Affairs Estimates, were the Estimate for the Taoiseach's Department and the Estimate for the Department of Finance. It was intended that my Estimate should be the last to be taken. The Minister for Finance was available to take his Estimate and desired to take it.
Will the Taoiseach agree that it was not intended on Thursday that his Estimate should be last? His Estimate was before the Finance Estimate last Thursday.
That was because we did not know. The Minister for Finance had been ill. He has only just come out of bed.
Does the Taoiseach not feel that there was an obligation to the other Parties to tell them beforehand of the change?
I do not. It was only a question of one or two days between the Estimates. In any case, as regards the order of business that has been suggested, I do not think that anything unfair is being done.
Do you think that to deal with the Estimates——
The Government can deal with the Estimates in any way it likes.
You are not the Taoiseach yet. I had not finished when these interruptions came from the Government Benches.
The House is not in Committee. The Deputy made his protest and must now be brief.
As a matter of fact the practice has been, following a general election, to take the Estimates formally.
I have asked the Taoiseach for an explanation.
Is the Deputy entitled to discuss the order of business?
Of course I am.
The Deputy is entitled to ask for a certain arrangement of business, but under the Standing Orders the ordering of business rests with the Government.
We are in Committee on Standing Orders now.
If the Minister for Local Government could make an intelligent interruption it would be much better. I am putting it to the Taoiseach that, when we left here on Thursday, a certain order for the Estimates was scheduled. I am suggesting to him that it is unfair to change that order at short notice without consultation with other people, or without substantial previous intimation. Does the Taoiseach agree with that?
I do not. We were coming to the end of the Estimates, and, as I have said, there were only one or two that remained to be taken. I do not think anyone in the House has got any cause for complaint if the order is changed. I intervene in this for one reason only, and that is because the Minister for Finance came to my office yesterday. He has been ill for a considerable time, and I was surprised to see him there. The question as to whether he would or would not take his Estimate arose, and it was decided that he would take his Estimate to-day. That is the order.
Would there be any difficulty in taking his Estimate tomorrow?
Yes. Departmental arrangements have to be considered in connection with the taking of the Estimates and cannot be altered at short notice. The Deputy is aware of that.
Is not that the complaint we are making, that the order of business has been altered at short notice?
Not at all.
As a matter of fact while the Government Whips convey to the Opposition and other Parties the order in which it is intended to take business, the fixing of the order of business is a matter for the Government, and the Government cannot surrender that right.
There was agreement between the Whips with regard to the taking of the Taoiseach's Estimate.
It was to be taken last week.
The Minister for Supplies says that it is physically impossible to alter Departmental arrangements at short notice.
I did not say that.
According to the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance appeared like an angel last night, whereupon all the previous arrangements were dropped. We are told the reverse by the Minister for Supplies. Which leg are they going to stand on?
Vote 65—the Minister to conclude.