It is proposed to take Nos. 1, 16, 17, 18 and 19. No. 19 will not be taken before 7.30 p.m.
Order of Business.
I should like to raise on the Order of Business this question. Last Tuesday the Taoiseach announced what I can only describe as a fairly formidable list of legislation which it was hoped to complete before the Summer Recess. Yesterday the Minister for Foreign Affairs is reported as having announced somewhere in the North of Ireland that it was proposed to introduce and have passed legislation to implement the recommendations of the Law Enforcement Commission in relation to fugitive offenders. Is that the case?
We certainly hope to introduce it.
And have it passed?
If there is co-operation.
The Taoiseach ought to be serious and let us know where we stand. One week ago he gave us a list of legislation and then the Minister comes along and tells us what is to be done.
I said there was other legislation.
The Taoiseach specified what they were.
I think the Deputy will note that I said other legislation.
Read what the Taoiseach said before you make hay every day of the week on the Order of Business.
The Parliamentary Secretary's mission is to jump in to prompt.
The Parliamentary Secretary gets very touchy when his inadequacies are exposed in this House. I am asking a simple question: whether or not what the Minister for Foreign Affairs said in Belfast yesterday, that this Bill is to be introduced and passed before this session ends, is correct.
I did not say that.
The Minister is reported as having said that.
I said I did not know if it would be passed.
The Minister is reported as saying that he hoped it would be introduced and passed.
The Taoiseach said with the co-operation of the House.
I mentioned that there might be two or three other Bills that we hoped to get through at the end of the list I read out last week.
The Taoiseach said "as far as time allows". The question I am asking is: is it right or wrong for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to say that it is hoped to have a particular piece of legislation in relation to the Law Enforcement Commission passed before the Summer Recess?
If we get co operation we will get it passed.
It is not long since we were hearing that no Bills were being passed and now the Opposition are being choked with Bills.
From the way Ministers are saying things these days we do not know which is Government policy and which is not.
For a change we now have a Government who are working around the clock.
At what?
They are going around in circles.
Order. Deputy Dowling.
On the Order of Business, will the Taoiseach allow time for a discussion on the Dublin bus strike and its effects, on the disastrous effects it is having on business in the city, on the question of unemployment arising from the Government's neglect and also on the question of the complete disregard for Dublin workers and trade unionists who travel to and from work——
A question, Deputy please.
—and, in addition to that, the question of the disregard for the sick and disabled and the failure of the Government to date to provide alternative transport?
The Deputy is making a speech.
Will the Taoiseach make time available for the discussion?
I will certainly consider it.
I tabled a Private Notice Question to the Minister for Justice in connection with the Portlaoise prison tunnel and I am wondering why it was not accepted by you. May I ask why it was not accepted?
I have communicated with the Deputy on the matter. He knows that it is not permissible or orderly for him to raise it in this fashion in the House. There is no obligation on the Chair to inform him here but, since he has asked again, I repeat that the matter he raised is a matter of public importance, granted, but it does not have the required degree of urgency to qualify as a Private Notice Question. I understand that the Deputy has an ordinary question down which will appear on next Tuesday's Order Paper in respect of this matter.
My Private Notice Question became an "ordinary" question. I would not describe it as an ordinary question at all. The Ceann Comhairle agreed with me that it is a matter of public importance. Surely if it is a matter of public importance there should be no restriction on my right to ask a question at short notice?
The ruling of the Chair is in strict accordance with precedent. The practice has been to disallow——
You are as sick as mud that it was discovered.
——questions for private notice where the incident or incidents involved are over.
Does the Ceann Comhairle think it is in the interest of good order when Deputy Dowling is asking a question about the bus strike that members of the front bench should laugh and snigger when he refers to Dublin workers?
The Chair is anxious to maintain decorum in this Chamber.
People who profess to be able to bring about top harmony in industrial relations should not be sniggering when questions are being asked about hardship for people in Dublin as a result of the bus strike.
The Taoiseach said he would give consideration to Deputy Dowling's request to have a debate on the bus strike. When will the House know his decision?
I have not had time to consider it. The Deputy raised it a couple of moments ago only.
Will it be within a week?
I will communicate with the Deputy.
The bus strike has been on for a couple of weeks.