It is proposed to take Nos. 6, 18, all Stages, 5, all Stages and No. 19 — Vote 49 (Resumed). Private Members' Business will be No. 26 (Resumed).
Order of Business.
I gave notice that I wished to ask the Taoiseach if he would outline for us the position of the Government in regard to the legislation enacted by both Houses of the Oireachtas recently, authorising the holding of a referendum for an amendment to the Constitution.
The Chair may have received notice of that matter but I did not.
Perhaps the Taoiseach will indicate to the House the present attitude and position of the Government on this fundamentally important matter. There is a great deal of public concern and confusion in the public mind as to the present state of the legislation.
The position in relation to constitutional legislation of this kind is that the Minister for the Environment has the function of making an order for a referendum to be held within a specified range of dates. The Minister will be doing that in due course.
May I take it from the Taoiseach's reply that there is no question about the Minister for the Environment making this order in the normal way?
The Minister for the Environment has an obligation to make the order. The timing with regard to making the order is a matter for his discretion. Once the Dáil and Seanad pass the legislation the order has to be made but the timing is a matter for the Minister. The Deputy will be aware there is a court case which involves an injunction in relation to the matter which is about to be heard and that is a matter to which the Government must give some consideration.
In his deliberations on this matter, will the Taoiseach bear in mind the fact that Article 46.2 of the Constitution is quite mandatory in this regard? Secondly, will he advert to the fact that law on the matter has been clearly stated in the case of the Wireless Dealers' Association against the Fair Trades Commission in 1956 in which the Supreme Court laid it down specifically that the courts have no function to intervene with the legislative process? As the legislative process is still in being so far as this legislation is concerned, the courts have no function in the matter and have no capacity to interfere with the Minister for the Environment making the order immediately.
The Chair understands that this matter is before the courts at this time and, to that extent, it is sub judice.
As I understand it, the position is as stated by the Leader of the Opposition. The matter in question is being pleaded in those terms in the courts today.
On the Order of Business, I want to ask if the Minister for Transport will make a statement on the very disturbing report that due to the disposal of nuclear waste in the Irish Sea over a long period it is the most polluted sea in the world?
The Deputy knows that does not arise on the Order of Business.
It is a very serious matter——
The Chair does not disagree with the Deputy about the seriousness of the matter but it does not arise on the Order of Business.
If the Minister wanted to make a statement to the House——
The Chair would not allow him to do so.
We would facilitate the Minister.
I am calling item No. 6.
On the Order of Business, will the Taoiseach make a statement about the German ship that was boarded yet again in Carlingford Lough on 7 June last, when two British Navy men boarded the ship——
That does not arise on the Order of Business.
The ship was on its way to Britain——
The Deputy has a parliamentary question down on that matter.
With the permission of the Chair I should like to raise on the Adjournment the question of the increasing number of attacks on elderly people in Dublin.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy.