It is proposed to take Nos. 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Within Item No. 12, Votes Nos. 48, 34 and 35 will be taken, in that order.
At the conclusion of business today the Dáil will adjourn until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 8 June 1983.
Order of Business.
Might I ask the Taoiseach when it is proposed to take the Postal and Telecommunications Services Bill, 1982? Would he also indicate what progress has been made in the establishment of the Committee on Marital Breakdown?
On the first point, the week after next for the Postal and Telecommunications Services Bill and, on the Committee on Marital Breakdown, that is one of the committees that is at present under discussion with the main Opposition Party.
Might I ask the Taoiseach if he will be making a statement in relation to a report in this morning's The Irish Times that the authorities here have refused to issue a death certificate in respect of a Libyan student who died recently?
That is not a matter for the Order of Business.
It seems to be a matter of great concern, a Cheann Comhairle.
It may be but I am sure there is another way the Deputy can find——
Will the Taoiseach make some comment?
No, the Chair will not permit the Taoiseach to make a statement on it.
Arising out of the Taoiseach's reply to my inquiry in relation to the Committee on Marital Breakdown, we have been told a number of times that this committee is under discussion——
We cannot have a debate on it.
I am not seeking a debate, I am seeking further information on it. The discussion has been going on——
The Deputy may ask a question if he wants.
The committee is supposed to complete its deliberations by the end of this year. The Dáil will be going into recess some time in July. At what point are we going to have this committee if it is going to complete its deliberations before the end of the year?
The question of the time limit on the committee's deliberations is something which will have to be finally decided when the committee is established. In the light of the delay in establishing it it may have to be reviewed.
Further to my earlier question, would the Taoiseach indicate whether the answer is "yes" or "no".
No, I am not permitting the question, Deputy Brady. I am within the rules of order and that is my main concern.
It is important, a Cheann Comhairle, because by asking questions we may get those people to do something.
We asked questions of the people opposite yet they did nothing.
Deputy De Rossa rose.
Deputy De Rossa is on his feet.
Might I ask the Taoiseach at what point does he intend to break negotiations with the Opposition Party——
(Interruptions.)
Order, Deputy Haughey, please. I am calling Deputy Haughey.
I think it is important that this committee be established.
I am not permitting any further questions on that.
It is the responsibility of the Government to see that it is established.
Would the Taoiseach himself be prepared to make a statement, or would he arrange for the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to make a statement of the full circumstances in which action was taken by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to close down what have become commonly known as the pirate radio stations, particularly in view of statements apparently made in court yesterday that this action was taken in response to pressure from the British Government?
I regret, Deputy Haughey, that that is not in order on the Order of Business and I am not allowing it; I am sorry.
A Cheann Comhairle, I am just asking the Taoiseach to make a statement or will he ask the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to make a statement?
(Interruptions.)
A Cheann Comhairle, I must submit to you that, on a number of occasions, you have turned to the Taoiseach when you have said whether he may or may not say he is prepared to make aa statement. This is all I am asking. I am sorry if the matter is embarrassing to anybody; I am very sorry.
I resent the imputation that——
I am just asking whether the Taoiseach himself will make a statement or ask the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to make a statement.
No, I am not permitting that, it is not in order. I will explain to Deputy Haughey——
(Interruptions.)
Wrap the green radio round me.
(Interruptions.)
Order, please. If I were to allow that question then every Deputy in the House could get up and ask would the Taoiseach make a statement on this, that and the other thing and it would be chaotic.
I just want to suggest to you, a Cheann Comhairle, that it seems to me, at any rate, that the reason that you are not permitting me to ask this question of the Taoiseach is that the matter is embarrassing.
I must ask Deputy Haughey to withdraw that remark. Deputy Haughey himself — I will not go into it — I would ask Deputy Haughey to please withdraw that statement. It is a reflection on the Chair.
If you consider it a reflection on the Chair I will withdraw it.
It is a reflection on the Chair. It is also——
(Interruptions.)
Order, please, Deputy Gay Mitchell.
The Taoiseach has made some sotto voce remark; perhaps we could hear it.
A disorderly remark.
(Interruptions.)
Order, please, everybody is talking at the same time. Deputy Gay Mitchell.
The Head of the Government is saying something.
(Interruptions.)
I am calling Deputy Gay Mitchell.
Let the Taoiseach talk.
(Interruptions.)
I am calling on Deputy Gay Mitchell.
A Cheann Comhairle, I should like to give you notice of my intention to seek to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of a question disallowed in my name regarding the alleged operation of a blacklist in the Department of Justice.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
(Interruptions.)
A Cheann Comhairle——
I do not know whether Deputies think they are doing something that is in their own interests, in the interests of this House or in the interests of democracy by simply obstructing the business of the House. It is not in the interests of anybody.
I object to that statement.
Deputies are arguing——
I think the remark of the Chair is unseemly and not in keeping with the tradition of the Chair.
It is a fact.
The Chair indulged in such an exercise himself.
With considerable success, I might add.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the report that the authorities refused to issue a death certificate in regard to the death of a Libyan student.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the failure of the Government to establish the Committee on Marriage Breakdown.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy.
Last night at the end of the debate in Private Members' Time I bowed to the ruling of the Chair that I could not ask a question. May I crave your permission on the Order of Business to ask the Minister——
I am asking the Deputy to allow the business of the House to continue in an orderly way.
We do not know what is the question.
I do know. The Deputy asked the question yesterday.
The Chair did not hear me yesterday because of the uproar at the time.
I did hear the Deputy.
The Chair did not hear my question because I never got round to asking it.
All I can say is that I fear the Deputy is not in order. I hope he is.
Now we are getting to the root of the matter. The Chair fears I may ask an embarrassing question.
Insults are directed at the Chair in that way day after day. It is a far remove from the wishes and expressions of goodwill that were expressed here on the day I was elected to the Chair.
My question was this: I was going to ask the Minister for Industry and Energy if he would check the accuracy or otherwise of the story that a contract worth £2,500,000 by the ESB was not given to Verolme——
That is not in order. We had three hours of this yesterday. The Deputy is very much out of order.
Will the Chair explain to me how I can be in order?
The Deputy has available to him a group of Standing Orders and a group of precedents. He should study them. I am calling Item No. 1.