It is proposed to take items Nos. 7 and 8. Private Members' Business shall be No. 24.
Order of Business.
Is it now proposed to publish the Report of the Commission on the Electoral Boundaries which I understand this week the Government, as a Government, to quote the Minister for Finance last week, have now received, rather than having received it as individuals, or whatever way they received it last week, or will it be published today?
May I ask a related question? In view of the fact that there was a precedent set by the publication by the Government on 25 April 1980 of the then Report of the Dáil Constituencies Commission, which had been received four days earlier, perhaps the Government would indicate whether they might be prepared to follow that precedent by publishing, even in typescript form, the present report which I gather was presented to the Minister on Friday last?
I received the report from the Chairman of the Commission on Friday last. It is my intention to publish the report today. It will be circulated to Members later on with a view to giving political parties, interested parties outside the House and the general public an opportunity of considering the report. In due course I will formulate my submissions to the Government on the matter.
Will the report be circulated to all Members of the House today? Has the report been considered and decided on by the Government?
Immediately after the Order of Business, it is my intention to have copies of the report lodged in the Library of the House and it will then be circulated to the spokespersons of the political parties. That will be later on this evening, because of the printing problems attached to it and the maps accompanying the report, but all Members will have it in their pigeon holes before 6 o'clock. The Government have not considered the report, I am publishing it.
I do not like to put the Minister for the Environment under too much pressure but he promised he would issue the smoke control order in relation to Ballyfermot. When will he issue this order?
I propose to deal with that matter at 5 o'clock today.
I wish to ask the Tánaiste if and when the Government will provide time to debate in the House a report of the Committee of Public Accounts in respect of the role and functions of the Comptroller and Auditor General in respect of which 40 recommendations were made by the committee. Will he agree to give time to debate this report in view of the importance of adequate control of public spending in this area?
Perhaps the Whips will discuss when and how this matter will be taken.
Can I take it that the Tánaiste is favourably disposed, in general terms, to such a debate and that it is simply a matter of agreeing on a time suitable to the Government?
Yes, we are very anxious that all these reports should be debated in the House. It is a question of allocating time.
I submitted a Private Notice Question relating to the curious situation in which Scoil Fhursa finds itself, where the boys' school is not regarded as disadvantaged but the girls' school is. You ruled the question out of order notwithstanding the fact that the school is to lose two teachers——
The Deputy may not advert to that matter now.
You will recall that I attempted to raise it during Question Time——
The Deputy was out of order in doing so.
That was two bites at the cherry so I would now like to raise the matter on the Adjournment.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I understand that the Government propose to introduce two Supplementary Estimates tomorrow morning in relation to sums of money for the offices of the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Will the Tánaiste arrange to have information on those Estimates circulated as I am not aware of what precisely is involved and what the money is for?
I am not clear as to the relevancy of this question.
That will be done tomorrow——
When leave has been given to introduce the Estimates they will then be debated immediately?
The Deputy will have the information tomorrow.
We need it today.
Will the Tánaiste inform the House when the new, promised legislation updating the Road Transport Act, 1932, will be introduced?
I would like the notice of that question.
It is promised legislation.
I appreciate that but we do not have a draft Bill to hand yet. I will follow up the matter for the Deputy and get more precise information for him. It is on the general list of business to be taken.
The Minister for Transport and Tourism promised the House that it would be introduced before Christmas.
We will make every effort to have it debated but there is a lot of other very important business, including legislation in respect of the building societies, planning, the Central Bank and so on. It is a question of taking its place in the queue. However, we will certainly introduce it before Christmas.
It looks as if it will not be ready until after Christmas.
It will not be ready in terms of circulation but it can be introduced.
Are the Government in a position to advance Committee Stage of the Building Control Bill? This Bill has been languishing on the Order Paper since the House resumed after the last general election. The Tánaiste may recall that I raised this matter last week.
I will give priority to this Bill. Obviously we should take Committee Stage as it is a very important Bill. I will ensure that it gets to the top of the list.
Will the Tánaiste and the Government agree that it is the only legislation on the Order Paper which has been permanently at Committee Stage since the commencement of this Dáil?
The Deputy has made his point.
Will the Tánaiste give an undertaking that Committee Stage will start before Christmas?
I will have a word with the Minister for the Environment.
I am anxious to proceed with this Bill as it has been hanging around since 1984. I agree with the Tánaiste that we will do what we can to see if it can be taken.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the refusal of the Minister for the Environment to amend the local government officers, (widows and orphans), contributory pension scheme in view of the outrageous anomalies that have come to light in cases of desertion and judicial separation.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
Have the Government considered the implications of the industrial dispute in the ESB and its eventual outcome?
It is not in order to raise that matter now.
I wish to raise it on the Adjournment.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to ask the Tánaiste a question that is close to his heart. As, apparently, smog will become an endangered species following an announcement at 5 o'clock today and as it is already extinct in the United Kingdom, did he bring Sir Geoffrey Howe to see smog in Ballyfermot——
Please, Deputy.
I got a very good response from Ballyfermot.
(Interruptions.)
I requested a copy of the Supplementary Estimates for the Department of Finance at the end of last week and I am still awaiting receipt of it. Is there any particular reason why the Deputies in the House who are interested in these Supplementary Estimates cannot receive a copy of them before the debate starts?
They will be circulated——
I have requested a copy of it and I have not received it. Is there any reason why the House should not receive copies of it?
There is no reason. The Deputy will receive it in as quick a time as possible and if the Deputy is being incommoded I apologise.
Deputy Andrew Boylan.
I believe it is disrespectful to the House to expect——
The Deputy has made her point. She may not elaborate now. Deputy Andrew Boylan has been called.
I seek to raise on the Adjournment as a matter of urgency the atrocious and scandalous conditions under which hundreds of families in my county have to live because of the total collapse of county roads.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
On two occasions in the last two weeks I tried to raise the issue of the changes in the national fuel scheme which have led to hardship for many people who were in receipt of this benefit in previous years and who have been cut off this year as a result of the new scheme. You already have a list of submissions for the Adjournment. Perhaps the Minister — he must have a flood of complaints — might indicate if he has any proposal to change the scheme?
It is not in order to direct a question to the Minister now.
There are more people applying at present and getting benefit.
Is the Deputy seeking to raise the matter again on the Adjournment?
The Minister has indicated that there is no problem with this matter but he is seriously out of touch with it. There are immense problems and I wish to raise it on the Adjournment.
I will communicate with Deputy Flaherty in respect of that matter.
You disallowed a Private Notice Question that I wished to raise. I now ask if I can raise on the Adjournment the circumstances whereby a male psychiatric patient was found dead in a ditch, having died some weeks ago, beside a psychiatric hospital in Dublin last Sunday.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the relegation of County Louth as a Border county and its inclusion as a midland county for EC classification.
I will communicate with the Deputy.