It is proposed to take the business as set out on the Order Paper in the following order: Items 8, 9, 10, 11, 1, 12, 13 (Vote 54) and 14.
Order of Business.
Can we know now when it is proposed to take Vote 3 (Department of the Taoiseach)?
Next week.
Can we have any indication as to whether it is proposed to proceed, this side of the Summer Recess, with Items 15, 16 and 17?
Possibly next week we will be able to give an indication of the business for the remaining period of this session.
Are there any new Bills contemplated?
Wait until next week.
Can the Tánaiste say if the Estimate for the Taoiseach's Department will be taken early next week?
That depends on the progress of the business outlined.
Can any interpretation be placed on the suggestion made to us yesterday that that Estimate will be taken on Tuesday?
I hope that it will be possible to take it on Tuesday, but no definite decision could be made until we see what progress will be made this week with the business as ordered.
So we cannot be told now on what day next week the Taoiseach's Estimate will be taken?
May I submit that, in deference to the Taoiseach's request, every Deputy who intends to take part in that debate notified the Taoiseach in writing of the topics he proposes to mention, a courtesy we were all most happy to extend to the Taoiseach? Surely to God, if we must all sharpen our pens to give a week's notice to the Taoiseach, the Taoiseach might so far stretch himself as to tell us on what day he will open his Estimate?
That depends on what time the Deputy wastes to-day.
There is no use in giving impudence. The Tánaiste is trying to do his job and I am trying to do mine. Surely, it is reasonable to ask if the Taoiseach will indicate on what day he will take this Estimate? We are entitled to some convenience, poor and lowly as we ordinary T.D.s may be thought to be. Surely, it is possible to find out when he will introduce his Estimate?
Could the Tánaiste give any indication when it is proposed to rise for the Summer Recess?
I could not do that, obviously, but I hope some day next week to be able to indicate the business for the remaining portion of this session.
Can the Tánaiste say that the Taoiseach's Estimate will not be taken on Tuesday?
No.
Why I am so curious and anxious about it is that I was told formally that it would be taken on Tuesday. I try to understand what I am told, both here and elsewhere, and I would be glad to be put in a position to let members of my Party, who are interested in discussing the Taoiseach's Estimate, know whether what I was told is true or not—that the Taoiseach's Estimate will be taken next Tuesday. Their information at present is that it will be.
The Whips of the Government Party are entirely optimists. They always assume that the business will proceed through the Dáil much quicker than it really does. If the business I have outlined to-day should be finished this week, it is very probable the Estimate for the Taoiseach's Department will be taken next Tuesday.
When we as Parties arrange the business, we are not looking for optimism or pessimism. We are looking for definite information and if we cannot get definite information we do not want anything else.
Will the Deputy give me definite information as to whether the business ordered to-day will be finished to-day?
Rubbish.
That amounts to discourtesy to members of the House.
It is just impudence.
Pure impudence.