I move:—
In sub-section (1), line 10, to delete "1953" and substitute "1960".
Adoption Bill, 1952—From Seanad. - Committee and Final Stages.
SECTION 1.
I accept that.
We have not seen the amendment and had not a chance of reading it.
The Minister accepted the amendment.
It is usual in a case of this kind to adopt a different procedure and I, therefore, accept the amendment.
The House has to accept the amendment.
Amendment put and declared carried.
Question proposed: "That Section 1, as amended, stand part of the Bill."
I should like to direct the attention of the Minister to this fact. He says that he has some trouble about the codification of the electoral law which would render the annual passage of this Bill unnecessary. May I direct his attention to the fact that there was a codification of the fisheries law introduced two years ago which is quite as complex a code and, though it was a long and arduous task, it was done? I suggest to the Minister that he should inaugurate in his Department a similar enterprise and introduce it into this House and let the House deal with it.
The Fisheries Bill was never finished.
It was referred to a Special Committee and I do not know what was done with it after that. I suggest to the Minister for Local Government that his Department might do as much and thus place in the hands of the Dáil an instrument which would give effect to the codification which he says is essential as a prerequisite to the dropping of this annual Bill.
I was on the Joint Select Committee of the Dáil and Seanad on the Fisheries Bill. That committee met several times and we did about three-quarters of the Bill and then the general election intervened. What has happened to it since I do not know.
The codification of the electoral law is not the only concern of the Department of Local Government. We are interested in a number of other matters, such as the codification of the whole local government law, the sanitary services and housing. All these matters are fairly well advanced, but that is a wider field than the single item of the electoral law.
Question put and agreed to.
Section 2 put and agreed to.
SCHEDULE.
Question proposed: "That this be the Schedule to the Bill."
What is the case for continuing this in its present form?
There are four Acts covered in the Schedule and they are mentioned. Two of them deal with the electoral law and the third deals with combined purchasing. The fourth deals with Section 65 of the Local Government Act, 1941. The position has been explained in regard to the first two. The Combined Purchasing Act of 1925 is still in operation and under this Bill it is now proposed to continue it until 1960. Section 65 of the Local Government Act, 1941, will be covered, I hope, in a miscellaneous Bill which it is the intention of the Government to introduce in the course of some months.
What will that Bill cover?
Thousands of things.
And it will be introduced in a few months?
Yes.
Get that on record.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill reported with one amendment.
Bill, as amended, received for final consideration and passed.