It is proposed to take No. 6 and Private Members Business will be No. 71.
Order of Business.
Will the Taoiseach arrange to make available to Members of the House copies of The Wall Street Journal review of the budget, called “Budget Blarney” so that we will have a picture of what the world outside thinks of this budget?
(Interruptions.)
Following the announcement that there might be a curtailment of Aer Lingus' operations on the North Atlantic, would the Taoiseach reassure the House that——
That does not arise on the Order of Business.
The industrial, commercial and tourism lives of the country depend on maintaining this service——
Deputy Flynn must find some way to make this point while still being in order.
Would the Taoiseach guarantee that Aer Lingus will not be permitted to withdraw from that route?
The impact on Shannon is not expected to be significant——
That matter does not arise at the moment.
May I raise on the Adjournment the situation which has arisen as a result of the decision of the Minister for Agriculture on 31 January to withdraw grant aid from development farmers for supplementary works?
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I would like to raise on the Adjournment first, the crisis at St. Mary's national school, Ashbourne, where 70 children may have no accommodation next September and, second, the delay in the extension to the Boardsmill-Butlerstown primary school?
I will communicate with the Deputy.
When can we expect to have a copy of the Government estimate giving details of the £28.6 million cuts in the Estimates? At that time we will have details of the other hopeful reductions the Government provided for in the budget, namely, public service pay and departmental balances as distinct from hopeful expectations on which the Minister based the budget.
We will have no argument.
The Deputy is surprisingly confused about departmental balances if he asks that question. I have not got a date for the Book of Estimates but I will endeavour to get that information and give it to the Deputy as soon as possible.
As the budget debate will be taken today we need to have these details because this is one of the bases of the budget debate and until we have this information, the budget debate, like Building on Reality, will be founded on quicksand.
In his statement the Minister indicated there would be cuts of £28.6 million——
The Deputy is anticipating the budget debate.
A specific promise was given that detailed information of these cuts would be made available to this House as quickly as possible. Budget day was last Wednesday. When will that information be available?
That was asked by Deputy O'Kennedy.
I am asking about the specific £28.6 million cuts mentioned last week. Detailed information was promised——
I answered that question the other day when I said the Book of Estimates would be published as soon as possible.
There are £28.6 million of expenditure cuts indicated in the budget. All we want is a list, even of the Departments. Are these cuts actually known?
Yes.
Can we have them?
They have to be inserted in the Book of Estimates, a very comprehensive document, before it is published.
We do not want the Book of Estimates; all we want is a list making up this £28.6 million. Give us a list of the Departments concerned.
Are the Government scrapping school transport? What are they scrapping?
Is the actual list determined or is it a vague figure?
This was determined several weeks ago.
Why can we not have it?
Because in the ordinary way cuts are included in the Book of Estimates and published. I will look into the matter for the Deputy.
This is a very simple straightforward matter. On budget day the Minister for Finance said there would be £28.6 million worth of expenditure cuts made. This is a week later. We do not want the Book of Estimates in detail, we just want the Taoiseach to give a list of the items or even the Departments which will be affected.
I have allowed this question not once but several times.
I will look into the matter.
Can the Taoiseach not give us a list? This is a simple matter.
I said I will look into the matter.
Open Government.
(Interruptions.)
Maybe the Taoiseach would cast his mind back to last Wednesday night when he said that that information would be available the following day.
I am not allowing a debate on this.
With all due respect——
(Interruptions.)
On today's Order of Business the budget debate will be continued and the fundamental question——
The Deputy can debate the budget when we are debating the financial resolution.
In answer to this side of the House last Wednesday the Taoiseach said this information would be available the following day. It is now Tuesday and it is still not available. As Deputy Haughey rightly said, we should be given a list of the Departments or at least told——
That is repetition, Deputy.
We should be given this information——
(Interruptions.)
How can we have a budget debate when these figures have not been made available?
In relation to the order of the House——
(Interruptions.)
Perhaps the Deputies would like me to adjourn the House.
(Interruptions.)
We must have order.
The order is established that the Estimates come before the budget. The budget then raises taxation on the basis of expenditure set out in the Estimates. We have not yet got the cuts in the Estimates, which should come before the budget debate, not afterwards. We are simply asking the Taoiseach to revert not just to long established procedure but to what is an essential order of debate? He should let us have those details without which the budget debate is meaningless.
Let me make the position clear. I have allowed questions on the matter raised by Deputy O'Kennedy to be asked. Several other Deputies have also asked the same question——
It has not been answered.
Maybe not but I cannot allow the same question to be asked again and again just because Deputies say it has not been answered. I am not saying whether it has been answered.
You know it has not been answered.
On a point of order, if the Taoiseach will not give us the answer are we entitled to assume that there is no list of cuts, that it is a figment of the Government's imagination?
That is not a point of order.
Did the Taoiseach use the word "untrue"? I was asked to withdraw such a word last week.
I did not hear it.
(Interruptions.)
I will not allow a post mortem on what I did the other day; that was totally different.
If the Taoiseach wishes to withdraw his remark, I will yield to him.
(Interruptions.)
Would the Taoiseach direct his Minister for Justice to intervene on humanitarian grounds in the case of two of my constituents who are on hunger strike, one for 27 days and the other for 90 days?
That does not arise on the Order of Business. The Deputy can find another way of raising this matter.
My constituents' solicitors have asked for a meeting with the Minister for Justice but were refused.
My Private Notice Question was ruled out of order but I wish to raise on the Adjournment the £7 million cuts to the youth training agencies?
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the protracted delay associated with post primary school development at Ballyhale and Mooncoin. It has reached crisis proportions.
An Exocet from behind.
(Interruptions.)
I will communicate with the Deputy.
Could I ask the Taoiseach when the Government intend to introduce proposals for the land tax in the House as concern has been expressed in this regard, not just among the farming community but also in the PAYE sector? We need some indication as to when this complex legislation will be introduced.
Within the next few weeks.
Does that mean it will be introduced before the Finance Bill and will it be debated before or after that Bill is introduced?
That is a matter for the Whips.
We need details——
The question was perfectly in order and I allowed it but please do not start a debate on the matter as that is not in order.
It is important to establish the order in which this interrelated legislation will be debated in the House.
That is not in order.
Of course it is.
The Chair has ruled that it is not in order.
Could the Taoiseach say in which order he proposes that these tax Bills will be introduced in the House and which will be debated first?
That is a matter for the Whips and I am not in a position to give any more information at this point.
It is a matter for the Government.
It will be discussed in due course when the Bills are published.
If our Whip suggests an order of debate, will the Government Whip agree?
The timing of the introduction of legislation is a matter to be discussed between the Whips when the Bills have been published and the Deputy is aware of that.
It is the Government's business.
Is the Taoiseach aware that a Minister has advocated the nonpayment of water charges to local authorities——
That does not arise on the Order of Business.
Will the Taoiseach comment on a Minister advocating the withholding of charges?
It does not arise on the Order of Business.
I am not so aware.
Would the Taoiseach issue a statement clarifying the position for the public who resent paying these charges but have agreed to do so? They now hear a Government Minister——
This is deliberate obstruction by Deputy Molloy.
(Interruptions.)
Deputy Molloy will resume his seat.
This is a very important issue.
It is not in order now.
The Minister is advocating non-payment of taxes to local authorities and the Taoiseach does not know anything about it. Where has he been?
(Interruptions.)
I am asking Deputy Molloy to resume his seat.
Did the Taoiseach hear the statement by the Minister of State, Deputy Creed, at lunchtime today?
I have ruled this out of order.
In view of the fact that this week sees the anniversary of the establishment of the infamous Cork task force which proposed the introduction of legislation to declare Cork a free port and as the Taoiseach is going to Cork at the weekend to celebrate the anniversary of that announcement, will he tell us when legislation will be introduced declaring Cork a free port and if he will make a copy of the task force report available to us before he goes to Cork?
The legislation in question will be introduced in a month or so but I am not in a position to anticipate my remarks in Cork next Friday.
(Interruptions.)
On a point of information——
There is no such point.
Would the Tánaiste make a statement regarding Ireland's win on Saturday on the basis that it is the only good news about Ireland in the last two years?
That does not arise on the Order of Business.