It is proposed to take Nos. 4 and 5. It is also proposed that No. 4 shall be taken without debate.
Order of Business.
Is the proposal that No. 4 be taken without debate agreed? Agreed.
First I welcome the Taoiseach back. If he looks back over his experience of April, May and November, he will find it is not a good idea not to be in this House on Wednesday nights. I would like to ask the Taoiseach if he could tell the House when it is proposed to set up the boundary commission to reexamine the Dáil constituency boundaries. I ask this because it has come to my attention lately that the Fianna Fáil Party apparently have their own internal boundary commission under the chairmanship of the Minister for Labour. I wonder if there is any particular meaning in the Fianna Fáil Party doing this before we have an official commission set up to do so.
It is hardly appropriate to raise this matter now.
It is promised legislation.
Could I seek some clarification from you, a Cheann Comhairle, in relation to what happened in this House last night. I would direct your attention specifically to Standing Order 93 (2) which states: "If on an amendment to the motion of the second reading of a Bill" is defeated "the Bill shall forthwith be declared to be read a Second Time". The decision of this House last night was to defeat an amendment which would have had the effect of denying the Criminal Justice Bill, 1989, a Second Reading. In rejecting that amendment, the House decided, in accordance with Standing Order 93, that the words proposed to be deleted should stand. Once that amendment was defeated — the Standing Orders are quite clear — and I would ask for some clarification on this — as Ceann Comhairle, you should at that stage have declared the Bill to be read a Second Time. There is no provision under Standing Orders allowing for a second vote in the situation which arose last night and I would ask you, Sir, to outline the reasons there was a second vote last night.
I will communicate with the Deputy in respect of that matter. The Deputy gave me no notice of his intention to raise this important matter here this morning; otherwise I would have given him a considered reply. I need time to consider his point of view.
I suggest that we might try to resolve this matter this morning if possible, because what happened last night is of major importance.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
During the course of the debate last week on Anglo-Irish relations, the Taoiseach made a number of proposals with regard to talks with the Unionist community and representatives of the Unionist community. Mr. John Taylor responded to some extent yesterday to what the Taoiseach had to say, indicating that perhaps the period of the Presidency of the Council could be used to have an interregnum of meetings of the Anglo-Irish Conference. Does the Taoiseach propose to take an opportunity today, perhaps in the House, to indicate his response to Mr. Taylor's proposal or, if not, when might he expect——
There are other ways and means of raising such matters, as the Deputy is no doubt aware.
I appreciate that there are ways and means of raising these matters, but this is the last day——
It is not appropriate on the Order of Business this morning, Deputy.
—— of the Dáil this week and I expect there will be some kind of response to the proposal.
It is not appropriate now.
With your permission I would like to raise on the Adjournment the serious problem of the lack of staff in the section of the Department of Tourism and Transport where carrier licences are given out. Up to last Friday, 670 applications had been received. It is a very serious indictment that there is not enough staff to deal with these problems considering that people have spent £60,000——
I will be in touch with the Deputy concerning that matter.
Unfortunately, the Minister is not here to answer the question.
With your permission I would like to ask once again to raise on the Adjournment the very serious, grave and life-threatening situation that exists on the north side of Dublin in that as and from last Monday all elective and routine admissions to the Mater Hospital have been cancelled because of inadequate funding.
I will be in touch with the Deputy concerning that matter.
I would like with your permission to raise on the Adjournment the serious position that has arisen in the farming industry with the collapse of cattle prices, the inability of the Department to pay reactor grants and numerous other problems.
I will be in touch with the Deputy concerning that matter.
The Deputy does not need half an hour to deal with that.
Pay up; pay up.
May I ask the Taoiseach if either himself or the Minister for the Environment are now in a position to tell the House when the regulations to give effect to the EC Directive will be laid before the House?
Before 12 December.
Before we rise for Christmas.
With your permission I would like to raise on the Adjournment the local authority housing crisis that exists in north country Dublin.
I will be in touch with the Deputy concerning that matter.
With your permission I would like to raise on the Adjournment the question of the smog levels in Dublin which have exceeded the EC limit four times in the last few days. This is a very serious matter.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to again seek your permission to raise on the Adjournment the matter I have been trying to raise consistently for the past two weeks regarding the difficulty imposed by the Housing Finance Agency——
I appreciate the Deputy's interest in that matter and I will seek to facilitate him as best I can. It is difficult, as Members will appreciate.
I would like to ask the Taoiseach or the Minister for Health what consideration, if any, is to be given to the report of the Commission on Health Funding.
I will be in touch with the Deputy concerning that matter.
Once more I ask your permission to raise on the Adjournment the matter of the Family Mediation Service in Dublin which is operating under considerable difficulty at the moment.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the fact that no elective admissions will be taken at the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin, as and from 8 December.
I will be in touch with Deputy concerning that matter. Can we proceed to deal with items Nos. 4 and 5?