It is proposed to take business in the following order: Nos. 2, 7 (resumed), 8 and 9. Private Members' Business (No. 18) will be taken from 7 to 8.30 p.m. It is proposed that on Thursday next, 25 May, the House will not sit until 11.30 a.m.
Order of Business.
On the Order of Business, I wish to put to the Tánaiste two matters about the Business of the House and I hope, Sir, you will allow me a few minutes to do it. They are of a kind frequently put by the present Taoiseach when he was Leader of the Opposition in the last Dáil. One concerns the general state of business. The Order Paper discloses that the following Estimate debates are not yet completed: Labour, Public Works, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Fisheries—that is five. I understand that the intention is to introduce this week a sixth Estimate, namely, the Education Supplementary Estimate. I remind the House that the present Taoiseach, as Leader of the Opposition, complained whenever a situation developed in which several Estimate debates were running simultaneously. The exigencies of a very small majority sometimes necessitated the ordering of business in that way, but such an excuse could not avail the present Government. In that connection also I remind the House that the Budget debate, which began on 2 February, nearly four months ago, has not yet been completed either.
The second matter is a prospective one, and I do not make any special point about it, but I would like the Government's reaction to a simple piece of arithmetic. There are six sitting weeks left, including this week, between now and the end of June when I understand the intention is that the House should rise. Assuming that the last week is given up substantially to an Adjournment Debate, and even assuming no special debate on the forthcoming Green Paper, we have five weeks including this week left to complete Second Stage of the Finance Bill, to leave an interval between that and Committee Stage, take Committee Stage, leave an interval between that and Report Stage and then take Report and Final Stages. I put to the Tánaiste, not contentiously, that that may be a tall order unless the Business is more snappily arranged from now on.
I allowed the Deputy to make what should be a short statement at this time on the Order of Business. Part of that statement relates to a matter which the Whips would ordinarily discuss.
That may be so in regard to the second point I raised, but I feel I am entitled, as Deputy Lynch did repeatedly when he was Leader of the Opposition, to call attention to the very untidy way the Business of the House is going on. There is no excuse for the present Government to order Business in that way.
Deputy Kelly may be mistaken in what he says, and he will find that the principal cause of complaint by the present Taoiseach when he was on the other benches was not at the unfinished nature of debates on Estimates but rather at the failure to introduce the Estimates at all and to allow time for debate.
He complained about that too.
Deputy Kelly is aware that there has been more time devoted to Estimates under this Government than in any comparable period under the previous Government.
There is no legislation.
The Deputy is complaining that there is not time for completion of legislation. Much more time has been given for the debating of Estimates, and it should be possible to reach an understanding between the Whips on a reasonable basis for completing Estimates. As regards the Finance Bill, as you have said, Sir, this is, strictly speaking, a matter for consultation between the Whips. Because of the length of time for which the content of the Finance Bill has been available the interval needed between the completion of Second Stage and the commencement of Committee Stage need not be as long as may have been common in the past.
I presume the period between Second Stage and Committee Stage will not be less than it was in previous years.
That is the point I was making. There is every case for having it less because of the length of time for which the Bill has been available.
It was available longer last year.
I do not think so.
One day longer.
Longer than what?
Longer than the period that it was available this year. It was debated on 10 May last year and 9 May this year and was issued on the same day.
Is the Deputy speaking of Second Stage?
From the time the Bill was available until debate time.
Until the debate on Second Stage?
Yes.
We are talking now about Committee Stage, which, of course, depends on the completion of Second Stage. The interval between completion of Second Stage and commencement of Committee Stage need not be extended, because of the length of time for which the Bill has been available.
I still have to ask that there be not less time between completion and Second Stage.
Shall we finish Second Stage tomorrow evening?
We can finish it at any time. The Government are holding it up.
The Whips can get together.