I move:—
That the Standing Orders of the Dáil and the Seanad relative to Private Business be amended as set out in the Schedule to the Report (T. 165) of the Joint Committee on Standing Orders (Private Business), dated 19th November, 1958.
For some time past, it has been felt that the Standing Orders relating to private business should be amended in order to bring them into harmony with present practice and conditions. The Joint Committee on Standing Orders (Private Business) considered the matter and its recommendations are embodied in the Schedule to the Report under consideration.
The first amendment deals with Standing Order No. 20. This Standing Order lists the Departments at which copies of Private Bills must be deposited. The purpose of the amendment is to bring the Standing Order up-to-date as regards the changes in number and nomenclature of the Departments since the Standing Orders were last printed in 1939.
Amendment No. 2 regularises present practice. Departments are empowered to make reports on Private Bills which have been deposited with them and, as doubt has been expressed as to whom they should be forwarded, the purpose of the amendment is to ensure that these reports are lodged in the Private Bill Office in the first instance. Copies of the reports will, as a matter of routine, be sent to the promoters as soon as possible after receipt.
The third amendment relates to the fees payable in respect of proceedings on Private Bills and Provisional Order Confirmation Bills. These fees have not been altered since 1923 and the Joint Committee felt that, in present circumstances, they are unreal and should be increased. Under the present scale of fees, an average of £90 is received in respect of a Private Bill. When it is considered that the cost of printing the last report of a Joint Committee on a Private Bill was £37, it will be appreciated that the amount received in fees does not adequately cover the expenses involved. Accordingly, the Joint Committee recommends that all these fees should be increased by roughly 100 per cent.
Amendment No. 4 has been necessitated by the transfer of the Fisheries Branch from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Lands.
Amendment No. 5 is consequential on Amendment No. 4.
Agreed and ordered accordingly.