I want to raise a matter of order. The House will be already aware that the business ordered by the Government for to-day did not include item No. 6. This matter came to my notice while Deputy O'Higgins was speaking and I did not want to interrupt him. This is the first opportunity I have of raising it. Notwithstanding the fact that item No. 6 was not ordered for to-day, it was taken. I accept, of course, that it was a mistake. I am not suggesting that it was done deliberately in any shape or form.
I am perfectly aware that under Standing Order 115 (2) a Money Resolution can be taken at any time, but I submit that the normal practice is that it is always taken after Second Reading and before Committee Stage. That is the normal practice. The important thing is, I think, that business should not be taken without being ordered, because if that is done, adequate consideration of business in the House completely fails. I think that, a mistake having been made, the proper thing to do is to order that the Money Resolution be discharged and put down in the appropriate way after Second Reading has been put through.
I have not got the typescript of what exactly took place at the time, but I understand that the Money Resolution was called and that the Parliamentary Secretary was asked, through the Chair, to move it. It then became apparent that a Money Resolution cannot be moved by anyone but a Minister. That is one of the Standing Orders of the House and, on that basis, a Money Resolution having been called, of course a Minister had to come in and move it. The calling of the Money Resolution was an error.
When we find a patent error, the only thing we can do is resolve it. I suggested to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach that the proper resolution of this error is to discharge the order made and put the Money Resolution down again—if you like for to-morrow morning—and do it in the proper way. If we take business that has not been ordered, the whole orderly procedure of the Dáil must fall to the ground.
