It is proposed to take Item No. 3 (resumed).
Order of Business.
Now that the report is available to the Government which was commissioned by the Minister for Labour into the imprisonment of the Ranks workers, what action does the Taoiseach intend to take to release these workers who have now been in prison for more than three weeks?
I am really surprised at Deputy Fitzgerald's pursuing this line as a Front Bench Member of his party. He knows very well that what he is endeavouring to do is not in order under the Order of Business. I would ask him to desist.
I respect you and your office at all times and have always done so in this House, but you can understand that I am not prepared to sit here while the Labour Party stay silently behind the Government and Dublin workers——
The Deputy will resume his seat.
——have been three weeks in prison. Not one voice has come from the Labour Party.
The Deputy is being disorderly.
I would never care to be disorderly.
That does not cloud the fact that the Deputy is being disorderly.
You can appreciate the concern of people that the Taoiseach and the Government sit there while nothing is being done.
The Deputy will resume his seat.
The once proud Labour Party sit silently behind them. Really it is a disgraceful situation.
If the Deputy does not resume his seat I will have to ask him to leave the House. He is being grossly disorderly.
In deference to you and out of respect to you and your office I will do so, having made a protest. By God do we need reform in this House.
I wish to bring a matter of grave importance to the attention of the Ceann Comhairle and the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. Last night on RTE's Today Tonight programme there was an exclusive for the Minister for Education, Deputy Gemma Hussey.
This is not in order. The Deputy will resume his seat.
There was no indication——
(Interruptions.)
There will be order on the Order of Business. The Deputy will resume his seat. I am calling Deputy Conaghan.
On a point of order, surely that was an infringement of the Broadcasting Act. It was an exclusive for Deputy Gemma Hussey. I want it investigated.
That is not a point of order and the Deputy knows it.
It is an absolute disgrace.
(Interruptions.)
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of Question No. 31 on 10 February relating to the potato industry.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy. Deputy De Rossa.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment a matter relating to the biased approach of RTE.
The Chair has called Deputy De Rossa.
Will the Taoiseach state whether the Minister for Labour intends to put before the House the report he has received from Mr. Stewart and whether he intends to make a statement on the matter?
Yes, it will be available today.
To avoid anyone being disorderly on this side of the House, which we do not wish, would the Minister for Labour agree to a one-hour debate on the report today? It would be wrong to go away for the weekend amidst this confusion. In fairness to the workers involved perhaps we could have a debate today between 3.30 p.m. and 4.30 p.m.
That is a fair request.
I propose to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of Question No. 255 on 16 February 1983 relating to accommodation for single homeless persons.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy.
Would it not be fair for me to receive an answer?
It would be just as fair to raise the matter through the normal channels.
While the circus goes on the boys will rot in Mountjoy.
I suggest that Deputy Ahern, who is the Chief Whip of his party, should communicate with the Government Whip.
(Interruptions.)
The miners in Avoca were looked after.
Order, please.
Will the Taoiseach instruct the Minister for Labour to intervene in the Semperit dispute to save the jobs of 700 people?
That is not a matter for the Order of Business.
It is a matter of urgency, something that Fine Gael and Labour——
The Deputy is being grossly disorderly.
I do not think I could be said to be disorderly. Could I have an answer?
It is not in order to either ask or answer at this stage.
It just makes a charade of this talk of Dáil reform.
You do not reform the House impromptu by creating disorder.
The jobs of 700 people are involved and if we cannot discuss it then we have been witnessing nothing but a charade in regard to Dáil reform.
It is not in order on the Order of Business. Standing Orders simply do not provide for it.
They should be amended.
On a point of order, a Deputy has the right to ask the Ceann Comhairle if he will allow him to raise a matter on the Adjournment.
When he is called.
I put that question to you and I indicated the subject matter, which I will not repeat, of the question I propose to raise. Will you allow me to raise it on the Adjournment?
When the Chair calls on a Deputy he can make a request. What the Chair said in response to Deputy Ahern's request for a debate was that perhaps he, as Chief Whip of the Fianna Fáil Party, would communicate with the Government Whip during the day.
That sounds very reasonable.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the biased approach adopted by RTE in relation to the school transport controversy.
The Chair will communicate with Deputy Leyden.