It is proposed to take Nos. 7 and 13. It is also proposed, notwithstanding the resolution of the Dáil of 15 May, that the proceedings on Part I, sections 59 to 76, of No. 13 shall be brought to a conclusion not later than 4.45 p.m. today.
Order of Business.
May I ask if that proposal is agreed? Agreed.
May I ask the Taoiseach, in view of the two recent bombings in London, killing one person and the injuring of several more, if he would not agree that it is time this House got down seriously to filling the deficiencies in our extradition law?
The matter does not arise now, Deputy.
On promised legislation, can the Taoiseach tell us when he proposes to have the Minister for the Environment bring into this House the National Roads Authority Bill?
Is this legislation which has been promised in the House?
It has.
I do not think it will be this session but I will communicate with the Deputy and let him know.
Having regard to the fact that this legislation has been promised for a long time, can the Taoiseach or the Minister give us any indication why it has not yet been circulated or completed? Is there a difficulty?
It is going through the normal process.
Very slowly.
I seek permission to raise on the Adjournment a number of matters. I will not refer to any Garda investigation, but specifically I seek permission to raise on the Adjournment the reason the Minister for Tourism and Transport has asked Aer Lingus to take disciplinary action, where appropriate, in the light of the accountant's recent report in view of the fact that the chief executive of Aer Lingus was the chairman of the subsidiary company until 1988. Second, I also wish to raise on the Adjournment the reason there is no accountant in the Department of Tourism and Transport. Third, I would like to ask if any action is to be taken against the auditors of the company concerned. Finally, may I ask——
The Deputy need not elaborate to any extent now. He is seeking my permission to raise the matter on the Adjournment and I will indicate my decision to him shortly.
I would also like to raise separately the need for the Comptroller and Auditor General to have inspection and reporting rights as recommended by a Dáil committee.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
You raised the question whether the arrangements for taking the Finance Bill were satisfactory and in order. I have to put it to you that they are very far from that. We are faced with a situation of gross disorder so far as the arrangements for the taking of the Finance Bill are concerned.
This matter was resolved by the House some moments ago.
You have not put the question yet, because I want to talk to you about it. I want to register my protest in the strongest possible terms because on Monday evening I submitted a number of additional amendments to the Finance Bill——
Deputy Taylor, hear the Chair.
Will you hear me out?
No, Deputy. You seem to dispute the fact that I put the Order of Business to the House. I assert that I did and it was agreed by the House a few moments ago.
I express my disagreement.
There was no dissenting voice at the time.
A whole clutch of new amendments were circulated late last night by the Minister for Finance——
Let us not make a mockery of the business of the House.
——and we are not being given an opportunity to examine them in a proper manner.
Please, Deputy Taylor. Deputy Connor.
I fail to understand how this can be considered orderly conduct of the House in so far as the arrangements for taking a crucial measure like the Finance Bill is concerned.
If Members wish to object to the Order of Business they ought to do so at the appropriate time.
I seek permission to raise on the Adjournment this evening the extraordinary decision of the Minister for Education to reduce the budget for and the size of the community school building programme in Castlerea, County Roscommon.
I will be in touch with the Deputy concerning that matter.
On the point raised by Deputy Taylor, while the House has agreed——
I seek your guidance, Sir.
No. I call Deputy Gilmore.
A Cheann Comhairle——
I have ruled on the matter, Deputy.
On a point of order——
Let us hear the point of order.
I am in no way disputing the decision of the House in respect of the time motion——
I have heard that.
Is it in order for ministerial amendments to be circulated so late when the arrangements for guillotining the discussion had been agreed?
By the Whips.
The Chair is receiving amendments at very late notice in connection with the Finance Bill and seeks to facilitate both sides of the House in that regard. My staff are working overtime in respect of the matter.
And under pressure, but may I put it to you that this party recognise for legal reasons——
These are matters I would prefer you would raise with my office instead of wasting the time of the House.
Your office, as you have just said, Sir, is under great pressure from other quarters.
Nevertheless it is working satisfactorily. I have had no complaint as yet.
Could I not at this point, and within the order of this House, draw to your attention the fact that while the Labour Party have complied with the legal requirement to have the Finance Bill completed by a certain time, it is unacceptable to the process of democracy to have the Minister for Finance circulate amendments the night before they are to be discussed.
We had a rehash on this argument on the Order of Business.
Do you think that is proper practice?
I will facilitate Deputy Quinn and the party he represents to the best of my ability but we will not deliberate on it now.
Perhaps the Whips could meet to discuss it again.
I seek your permission to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of Question No. 74 of Thursday last concerning the resale of Carysfort College.
I will be in touch with the Deputy concerning the matter.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the treatment of some Irish citizens seeking visitors visas to the US. Would I be in order in raising this matter on the Adjournment on the basis that I will be requesting the Minister to seek clarification from the US Government as to why this is happening?
I am aware of the Deputy's interest in the matter and I will communicate with him.
With your permission I again ask to raise on the Adjournment the continued failure of the Government to recognise the Tibetan Government in exile.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I seek the guidance of the Chair whether I should raise the following matter by way of Private Notice Question or by way of question on the Adjournment this evening. It relates to a serious security matter at Lifford Bridge in County Donegal. The bridge has been closed for two days because there is a bomb sitting on it. The British authorities will not move in until they get an assurance from the Irish Government that their lives will be protected and the people of east Donegal and west Tyrone are extremely angry that no action is being taken by the Government.
I suggest the Deputy communicates with my office. We will be glad to facilitate him in any way we can.
With your permission I would like to raise on the Adjournment the fact that the Swiss Cottage in Chair, the only one of its kind in Ireland and which was opened last September, has been closed to the public for the past eight months. I understand it is the intention of the Office of Public Works to have this major tourist amenity in our area open for just three months of the year.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I want to ask the Minister for Tourism and Transport to tell the House that, when he instructed the board of Aer Lingus to take appropriate civil action, he intended that Stokes Kennedy Crowley would be the company against which the action should be taken.
That matter does not arise now. I thought the matter the Deputy was raising was relevant on the Order of Business.
I thought that might have been relevant.
Yesterday morning I sought to raise on the Adjournment a disturbing matter relating to defects in local authority dwellings in my constituency and was ruled out of order as it was not the responsibility of the Minister. I want to question that and I would like to raise it on the Adjournment. The Minister has responsibility because it is his responsibility to raise the finance.
I will communicate with Deputy Ryan in respect of the matter he has raised. He may not elaborate now or enter into argument about the matter.
I wish to raise it on the Adjournment.
Yes.
(Limerick East): When will the Bill to set up the national debt agency be published?
It is on its way and will be brought in during this session.
I would like your assistance as to how I can raise in the House the brutal acts committed in London yesterday in our name particularly when today we commemorate the sixteenth anniversary of similar happenings in this city.
This does not arise now, Deputy Currie. My office will be happy to facilitate you in raising it in a proper manner.
On the Order of Business, may I ask the Taoiseach if it is intended to circulate this session the promised legislation with regard to the control of telephone tapping?
It is most unlikely.
Could I have some indication why it is taking so long for this legislation to be formulated and when are we likely to see a draft Bill?
We are studying the way they dealt with this matter in Eastern Europe at the moment.
I will facilitate the Taoiseach to have a debate on that subject.
The Deputy raised a rather doubtful matter on the Order of Business.
I fully appreciate that, and that, when I ask relevant questions on legislation promised by this Government, I expect to get an answer that addresses the question and not some kind of throwaway remark from the so-called Emperor of Europe in this House.
(Interruptions.)
Let us hear Deputy Sheehan.
In view of the statements, the counter-statements and the wrong information conveyed by the Tánaiste to me in this House, I would like to ask the Taoiseach if he would now make available to the Members of this House the full details of the new areas being accepted into the disadvantaged areas scheme and if this has been communicated to Brussels.
Deputy Sheehan, resume your seat.
This information is sought and needed by the farmers.
Deputy Sheehan, resume your seat.
Could the Taoiseach give me that information? What is all the secrecy about? Tell the truth.
I ask you, Deputy Sheehan, for the third time to resume your seat or leave the House.
When does the Minister for the Environment propose to take time in the House to make a statement regarding the Garda investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption in the planning department.
Deputy Quinn, please desist. This is clearly not a matter for the Order of Business.
The Minister has to take time——
If the Deputy persists in that kind of tactic I will not call him again.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment droich stáit Scoil Colmcille in Indreabhain Gaeltact, Contae na Gaillimhe, and the proposals the Minister for Education has for addressing these problems which have continued for several years now despite Government promises.
The second matter relates to the ordering of our business. Has the Taoiseach discussed with the Minister for Foreign Affairs the procedures that will be necessary to enable this House to discuss the draft papers on European political union which I understand the Department of Foreign Affairs are preparing for the Summit in June?
I am not sure that the latter matter arises now.
It arises in two contexts on the record of the House; first on the occasion of the statements on the Taoiseach's presentation to the House following the informal Summit in Dublin and, second, when we discussed foreign affairs matters last week. Both are clearly on the record of the House and contain commitments that there would be an opportunity in this House for discussion of European political union.
The matter seems to me to be one for the Whips.
I am anxious to be as helpful as I can in this House, but let me say that when we discussed this matter on the last two occasions, very clear commitments were given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and other members of the Cabinet that this House would have time before the Summit to discuss the implications of European political union. My question is very simple. I am asking whether it is proposed to provide that time next week or when it is proposed to provide it. Once we have agreed that a time slot will be made available to discuss it in this House, it will be a matter for the Whips.
Deputy, this is not appropriate to the Order of Business, there are other ways of dealing with this matter; it is primarily one for the Whips.
I suggest, Sir, that it is highly inappropriate for the Summit to have before it a paper from Ireland that neither this House nor the citizens of Ireland have had an opportunity to discuss. We have been through the debacle of non-accountability in relation to the Single European Act. My point is that this House has been given assurances in a very solemn way by members of the Cabinet——
I have allowed the Deputy to raise the matter but we cannot debate it now.
I am sorry, Sir, I have to say that if we do not have an opportunity to debate this matter in the House before the Summit in June and if there is no public debate on European union it is the height of arrogance to go into the Summit representing the Irish position. I shall not be a party to that.
I think the Deputy is exercising himself without any reason at all.
I am glad the Taoiseach is exercising himself at last.
Please, Deputy Higgins, let us hear the Taoiseach's reply.
Following the Summit on 28 April at which the matter of political union was dealt with, I reported to this House and the House had the opportunity of discussing my report on political union. If there is any need for further debate on any of these matters, this can be discussed by the Whips.
It will not be discussed.
There is no need for the Deputy to get apoplexy.
The Taoiseach said there was no Irish paper but then there was a paper the following week.
There is no need for disorder of this kind on the subject.
Deputy Higgins is completely misrepresenting the situation.
I am not.
The situation was that following the Dublin Summit, I, at the request of the House, engaged in an unusual procedure by extending the time to discuss the report of the Summit for a full day.
We heard statements.
If Deputy Higgins did not avail of that opportunity to express his views that is his fault not mine.
I did.
I am calling Deputy Peter Barry.
The Taoiseach is suggesting I did not speak on that occasion, in fact, I did. The trouble is that the Taoiseach said there would be no Irish paper but the following week there was an Irish paper.
Will the Deputy please resume his seat? I call Deputy Peter Barry.
I do not wish to be misrepresented to this House.
I have given the Deputy a lot of latitude, I will tolerate no more.
I am going to get an answer from this House.
(Interruptions.)
If there is to be an Irish position paper on European unity put to the Summit in June, will the Taoiseach confirm that this House will have the opportunity to discuss it before the Summit and that we will not be discussing statements after the Summit?
That is the net point.
These are matters for parliamentary questions in the normal way.
They are not.
I would like to point out to Deputy Barry, who knows as well as I do, that there has been no precedent in this House for discussing issues of that kind before a Summit.
There is no precedent for European unity.
It is completely new.
I call Deputy Jim Higgins.
With your permission, Sir, I wish to raise on the Adjournment the possibility of the Minister for the Environment considering the possibility of having candidates' photographs on the ballot paper in order to assist illiterate, dyslexic and visually impaired voters to exercise their franchise.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
I wish to raise on the Adjournment the financial hardship being experienced by many of our young drivers as a result of the spiralling cost of insurance.
I will be in touch with the Deputy.
May I ask the Minister for Tourism and Transport to confirm whether he has been advised that some continental tour operators have intimated that they may not travel on the Cork-Kerry roads because of the condition of these roads and, in view of the national importance of this to the tourism industry, would he make a statement on what he proposes to do to ensure that satisfactory road conditions are provided for such an important sector?
The matter does not arise now Deputy.
On the Order of Business, is it the Government's intention — given the admissibility of the case ruling by the European Commission on Human Rights — to concede the case and to introduce legislation allowing for the freedom of information on abortion?
I will communicate with the Deputy. Is he seeking my permission to raise the matter on the Adjournment?
I am not seeking to raise the matter on the Adjournment. I am asking the Taoiseach on the Order of Business if it is the Government's intention to introduce this legislation?
It does not arise, Deputy, and the Deputy knows that full well.