Before the Minister for Agriculture starts on his Estimate, I should like to say that after Question Time to-day we objected to having this Estimate taken to-day in view of the fact that the White Paper was only issued this morning and that many Deputies, particularly those who were travelling up to town to-day, had not an opportunity of reading it. We suggest that the Estimates which are before the Estimate for the Department of Agriculture on the Order Paper should be taken to-day. We fail to see any reason why the Estimate for the Department of Local Government should not be taken before the Estimate for the Department of Agriculture.
Business of Dáil.
For the information of the Minister, I may say that my copy of the White Paper is in the custody of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. It has not reached even my home in the country. I do not know what is in it, except what appeared in the morning papers, which was, presumably, a résumé. If the Minister is serious in circulating the White Paper, it is fantastic to embark on a discussion of the Vote for the Department of Agriculture when none of us has seen the White Paper.
Vote 41 was not ordered for to-day.
It was on the Order Paper before but it was not taken. We are suggesting it should be taken in view of the special circumstances.
It was not ordered for to-day.
It could be taken. If the Minister comes into the House now, we will agree to take it.
With regard to the Vote for the Department of Agriculture, I believe it has been agreed that after the Minister's opening statement the further discussion of the Estimate will be postponed.
No. What happens then?
We will have to adjourn.
That is all right so long as we are not expected to debate this to-day.
Is there head or tail to the business at all? Members of this House are told that the pressure of public business is so great that time cannot be allowed for the discussion of Private Deputies' Motions, many of which stand on the Order Paper. Private Deputies have readily assented to that proposition on the Government representation that there is an immense pressure of work, but the Minister for Industry and Commerce said in Cork yesterday that the Opposition were obstructing; that the Government have masses of legislation waiting to be put before the Dáil, but that the Opposition will not allow them to do so. We are now informed——
That matter should have been raised when the Order of Business was being arranged.
It was, and it was agreed that it could be raised again when we reached this item.
We are now informed that the Government have no business, and that we must adjourn the Dáil. Assuming that the Minister's statement lasts until 10 minutes past 6 o'clock, are we to sit here in Dublin, having been dragged away from our business, with nothing to do? Will the Minister take Private Deputies' business this evening?
I do not know what business is coming on next.
There is neither head nor tail to the doing of public business in this way.
If Deputies wish to go on with the discussion, I do not mind. If it should be thought unfair to go on with the discussion, we could adjourn after I had opened the debate on the Estimate.
Surely it is fantastic to be wasting public time in this way after what the Tánaiste said last night, that the Opposition were holding the Government up in the discharge of their business.
A statement might be true in a general, but not in a particular, way.
As far as I can see, it is neither true generally nor particularly.
Deputies will have an opportunity of studying the White Paper to-night.
The Minister's Department got at least six months to consider the White Paper. I think it is grossly unfair to the House to expect us to consider it overnight. It is a shame, and is treating the House with contempt.
The Minister says that Deputies will get an opportunity of considering the White Paper overnight. He is assuming that everybody has got the White Paper, and that it is in their hands. I am a Dublin Deputy, and I did not receive the White Paper. There must be something uncanny about it, but it is most unusual because I did not receive the White Paper through the post.
If any Deputy has not got the White Paper, I presume he can get a copy in the General Office.
Is there any sense or meaning in calling us to Dáil Eireann, in having the Minister announce that he is founding his proposals for the future of agriculture upon a White Paper which has been issued as a result of a six months' perusal of a commission's report, and then saying: "I am going to introduce my Vote and if any Deputy wants a copy of the White Paper he can go down to the office and get it there"? Is it seriously suggested that I can peruse and digest what is in that White Paper between 6 o'clock this evening and 3 o'clock tomorrow?
I think Deputies will have to admit that these matters were very fully dealt with in the commission's reports, and that, as far as the Government's decisions go, they follow the official reports very closely. There may be just one item like compulsory tillage, but I think that every Deputy has been thinking over the question of compulsory tillage, whether it should or should not be.
If that is all the respect the Minister has for his White Paper, then far be it from me to praise it.