It is proposed to take Items Nos. 10, 11 and 12. It is also proposed that Private Members' Business, which shall be Item No. 22, shall be brought to a conclusion at 8.30 p.m.
Order of Business.
I must ask if the latter proposal, that Private Members' Business, Item No. 22, be brought to a conclusion at 8.30 p.m., is agreed? Agreed.
Before the Order of Business is agreed let me say my party in particular feel that the time allocated for Item No. 11, the Competition Bill, in view of the fact that Committee Stage of that Bill was severely restricted and guillotined, is quite insufficient. I know the Taoiseach himself was not entirely happy with that situation. While I am not proposing to oppose the Order of Business on that score, I feel it is bad that legislation of this complexity and novelty should be put through both Committee Stage and Report Stage under a guillotine.
These matters have already been agreed by the House.
On the Order of Business proper, in view of the fact that there are reports that some announcements may be made today in the House of Commons in Westminster in regard to the Brooke talks process, can the Taoiseach indicate if there will be any statements made today and discussions here today in Dail Éireann in regard to that matter?
I have to say that the matter to which the Deputy refers is not appropriate now to the Order of Business.
Sir, may I submit to you respectfully that it is important to this House? The Order of Business and the orders of the House are intended to facilitate the House, not to obstruct it. I think the House would wish us to have the same opportunity of discussing anything of this kind as is being afforded in Westminster. I am sure the Taoiseach would wish to respond to that point.
The matter can be raised at a more appropriate time.
I am afraid it is reported that the discussions, if they take place in the House of Commons, will take place today. I do not think we should be discussing something next week that has been discussed and disposed of in the House of Commons today.
The Chair is merely conforming to the Order of Business as laid down by this House and no more.
I am sorry, Sir, my quarrel is not with you. I am sure the House itself would wish to agree to relieve you of any constraint that is on you in this matter so that it could discuss this matter today and I am sure the Taoiseach is anxious to respond.
Perhaps then it is a matter for the Whips to decide at a later stage.
Would the Taoiseach volunteer to respond?
Deputy Spring is offering.
I refer to two matters on the Order of Business. I wonder if the Taoiseach has given any further consideration to the matter raised, or attempted to be raised yesterday, by way of a Standing Order 30 motion. As it is now common knowledge, I am sure the Minister for Finance will agree, that there will be cutbacks in public expenditure announced by the Government some time in the next few days, it would be worth while for the announcements to be made before the Estimates are discussed on Friday. I wonder if the Taoiseach has given that any further consideration?
Secondly, I seek some clarification from the Taoiseach in relation to his reporting to the House next week on his meeting with Prime Minister Major. Will that report include an up-to-date statement on the position of the talks in Northern Ireland?
Deputy Spring is bringing in extraneous matter some of which I have already ruled on this morning.
On the question of the Estimates, as I have already indicated and I think, Sir, it is your own view, the Estimates will give plenty of opportunity for Deputies to discuss the financial situation. It is not likely that the Government will be making anything in the nature of a comprehensive statement about the budgetary situation for some time.
(Interruptions.)
I would like to add my voice to Deputy Bruton's protest in regard to the guillotine on the Competition Bill. In fact, on every Bill this week there is a guillotine, something we find very difficult to understand when there is plenty to time available during the course of the summer to debate these Bills.
In the area of promised legislation, I wish to raise the question of the colleges Bills which were promised last November. I raised this issue in every session on two or three occasions and each session I was told the Bills would be taken in that session. The week before last the Minister said they would be taken on Tuesday, which was yesterday. There is no evidence that they will be taken now. I ask the Taoiseach what has happened? Why suddenly is a Bill which was very urgent last November of no concern now? Can the Taoiseach give an indication of what is going to happen in regard to the colleges Bills now?
The colleges Bill will be taken as soon as possible next session.
Next November?
Nothing dramatic or conspiratorial has happened. It is simply that the parliamentary programme is pretty crowded at present. The Deputies opposite have been asking for debates on all sorts of things. I have agreed to debates on the agricultural situation and on European affairs next Wednesday. We cannot do everything.
In relation to the——
This should not give rise to argument.
I wish to make the point that the Dublin Institute of Technology's six colleges and all the RTCs have been awaiting this for 12 months. It is now throwing the whole thing into confusion.
I think the Deputy has made that point very effectively.
In view of Ireland's historic support for self-determination dating back to the first resolutions of this House in 1919, will Dáil Éireann be given any opportunity before it rises to express its condemnation of the suppression of the attempts to achieve self-determination of the Slovene and Croat peoples?
Again, there are so many more appropriate ways of raising such matters.
Of all countries in the EC Ireland should be first in appreciating the desire of these two peoples to achieve a degree of independence. We have experience of enforced union from 1800 right up to 1922. We should therefore, understand how the Slovenes and Croats feel at this time and we should distance ourselves from the EC policy——
Deputy Bruton, it is not one for the Order of Business.
The Deputy had ample opportunity to raise it at Question Time yesterday.
It was raised at Question Time yesterday by this party and by no other.
I asked earlier but I do not recollect formal approval for the proposal that Private Members' Business, Item No. 22 shall be brought to a conclusion at 8.30 p.m. this evening. Is that formally agreed?
Agreed.
On promised legislation, when does the Taoiseach propose to introduce the legislation to amend the Solicitors Act? We have been promised that legislation for the last four years.
I am afraid it will have to be next session.
A Deputy:
When will it be circulated?
During the recess. The Deputy will be able to study it on the beaches.
(Interruptions.)
The Normandy beaches?
The Taoiseach in response to a question during the Order of Business some time ago said it would require legislation to put in place the recommendations of the special committee on crowd control and public safety. When will this legislation be brought forward?
This is an ideal subject for Question Time.
A Deputy:
It was promised legislation.
I wonder.
We hope to make progress on it next session but, as the Deputy knows, most of the recommendations are already being operated.
At this rate we would want to come back in August.
In view of the fact that a great deal of time is taken up on the Order of Business quite regularly on complex matters, including Slovenia and Croatia and Africa, may I ask the Taoiseach, through you, Sir, to again consider the appropriateness of establishing a foreign affairs committee which could include, if he so wished, an element of overseas development aid or aid in general so that as we face into the recess we would know that this committee would be in existence to discuss, for example, developments on famine in Africa. I am not going to waste the time of the Order of Business but I am suggesting to the Taoiseach, given the complexity and the speed with which matters are changing in foreign affairs, that he consider yet again the appropriateness of having a foreign affairs committee.
There was quite a good ventilation of all these matters during Question Time yesterday to which the Deputy himself contributed with great sagacity. If the Deputy for one moment believes that the establishment of a foreign affairs or any other committee would stop or bring to an end this constant hassle on the Order of Business every morning — most of which is totally out of order — he is far more naive than I think he is.
The Taoiseach experiences more hassle when he leaves here and goes across the bridge.
If I might end this matter I think the Taoiseach and I can disagree on what would constitute a robust democracy on the Order of Business. May I ask him to answer my question from the central issue involved: is there not a near unanswerable case for a foreign affairs committee in this Oireachtas?
I am proceeding to the business ordered.