Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 10 Mar 1993

Vol. 427 No. 7

Ceisteanna — Questions Oral Answers. - Implementation of Programme for Government.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

1 Mr. Durkan asked the Taoiseach if he has satisfied himself that the Programme for a Partnership Government 1993 to 1997 has been satisfactorily implemented to-date; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Jim O'Keeffe

Question:

2 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Taoiseach when the commitments in the Programme for a Partnership Government 1993 to 1997 to introduce legislation will be met.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.

As I stated in my reply to a question on 24 February 1993, the Government has a comprehensive legislative programme for the 27th Dáil as set out in the Programme for A Partnership Government.

The Government agrees its priorities for each session at the commencement of the session. On 17 February last the Government Chief Whip published the list of legislation for this session.

As the Deputy is aware, the legislative progrmame is discussed by the Whips on a regular basis and while the Government, in the main, works to a planned programme, account must be taken of developments as they arise.

Having regard to the effects of the currency crisis, which has resulted in job losses, having regard to the Digital, Lapple and Packard crisis, which also resulted in job losses, and to the current difficulties in Aer Lingus, will the Taoiseach accept that perhaps the Programme for Government is not being adhered to, is not attainable, or was not realistic, and that there is a serious crisis which he should address?

The Deputy is well aware that the programme is one for Government over four years plus——

—not just for seven weeks, as the Deputy would like people to believe.

Will the Taoiseach state whether if by some miracle this Government lasts for more than four years, or whatever length of time it will struggle along, it is his intention, subject to what he said already, to introduce the legislative measures promised in the Programme for Government?

If the Deputy had been listening he would have heard me answering that question.

A "yes" will do.

The Programme for Government is for four years plus. Therefore the Deputy can relax and make himself comfortable on those benches because that is where he will be for the next four years plus.

Will the Taoiseach be there for the next four years?

In regard to the legislative programme, I have already stated quite clearly that at the start of every session the Government sets out its priorities and it did so on 17 February. If the Deputy wants to ask a specific question in relation to a certain aspect of the programme he should table a separate question.

Is the Taoiseach aware that the first priority, according to the programme, is to put the country back to work by creating useful and constructive employment? Against that background does the Government not consider that its decision in its very first budget to impose a 1 per cent levy on work is contrary to the priorities of the programme?

Separate matters are being raised.

That is one aspect of the budget. There is an ongoing debate on the budget which gives an opportunity to every Member to contribute and make his or her views known in relation to many matters. The question of the 1 per cent levy has been answered on a number of occasions in the debate on the budget and I will not repeat my arguments.

My question is in two parts and concerns promised legislation. Can we take it, as was the case with the former Taoiseach, that legislative proposals in the programme for Government are promised legislation and that it is in order to raise matters on the Order of Business concerning them? Will the Taoiseach indicate whether matters promised in the Programme for Government which require legislation are also promised legislation?

No. I set out the position clearly. We have circulated our priorities for this session in relation to legislation to be introduced in it. If the Deputy wants to ask a question about specific legislation which is part of the four year plus Programme for Government, he is entitled to do so during Question Time to any Minister.

Not on the Order of Business.

Will the Taoiseach agree it is extraordinary that although this programme has been in existence for two months — it is supposed to be the blueprint for the next four to five years, apart from being the sticking plaster which keeps the parties together — we still have not debated it? It should be debated, if only from the point of view of legitimising questions in relation to proposed legislation. When will we have an opportunity to debate the programme?

The Deputy has an opportunity every week to put down a question about specific legislation as the programme will span four or five years in Government.

When will the programme be debated?

There is an ongoing debate on the budget which will facilitate the Deputy in asking questions.

It is a four year programme for Government.

It will be debated on a number of occasions over the next four years.

Will the Taoiseach discuss the matter with the Whips?

The Taoiseach continues to wriggle. Will he be definite in this regard? We will ask questions about every matter which requires to be clarified. I will make a final effort to encourage the Taoiseach to be more specific in regard to open Government, to which he refers so often. Apart from the priorities which the Taoiseach has established for this session, will he confirm that the commitments he made in the programme were bona fide and that the legislative commitments in the programme are genuine? If he is not prepared to confirm this, will he explain why? Will he also explain why, unlike his predecessor, the then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, he is unwilling to answer questions about specific legislative commitments in the programme?

As usual, it is difficult to understand Deputy O'Keeffe.

The Taoiseach knows what I am talking about.

All through my lifetime, in business or politics, my word has been my bond.

I want to bring this matter to finality.

You can always rule on whether the Taoiseach's word is his bond. You heard what he said.

The Chair will not make a hypothetical ruling on this matter.

Is the Taoiseach aware that approximately 43 items of legislation are promised in the joint programme for Government? Can we take it that the Government intends to honour its promises in this regard?

Obviously, the Deputy was not listening to me earlier. Must I repeat what I said and waste the time of the House? We circulated the legislative priorities of this session on 17 February and they will be adhered to. This is a four year plus Programme for Government and I do not think that Deputy Bruton has done his sums.

Will the Taoiseach agree it is fair to say, in respect of the Programme for Government, that the main issue is unemployment? At this stage we have yet to see a single, practical proposal, despite the widespread gloom in Galway, Carlow and Tallaght. In my own constituency 190 jobs are threatened today. Will the Taoiseach indicate the practical measures he hopes to bring forward in this legislative session? For example, when will the Bill to set up the jobs protection unit be brought before the House? Finally, what is the position on the third force in banking and when will we see proposals before the House on this specific proposal?

The first matter is worthy of a separate question to the Minister for Enterprise and Employment who will no doubt be only too delighted to answer it and the second question should be addressed to the Minister for Finance.

A Cheann Comhairle, is that acceptable from the Taoiseach — he is the Taoiseach of the Government and he comes in here to pass the buck to Deputy Quinn on the one hand and then to Deputy B. Ahern.

Order, Deputy Rabbitte must allow questions to proceed in an orderly fashion.

The question is about the Programme for Government, and both proposals are in the Programme for Government. There are 300,000 people unemployed and the situation is getting worse, between Digital, devaluation, Carlow and Tallaght. The Taoiseach stands up as Taoiseach of the Government and tells me to put down a question to the Minister for Enterprise and Employment and to the Minister for Finance——

Deputy Rabbitte must now desist. He may not intervene in such an unruly fashion.

What kind of a response is that to a question on the partnership programme?

The Deputy must resume his seat or leave the House.

The Deputy should spend a little more time here and he will get the answers.

The Taoiseach should not be so smart about such a serious problem.

Why has the Taoiseach decided to alter the precedent set by his predecessor, the former Taoiseach, Mr. Charles Haughey, when he agreed to answer on the Order of Business questions on promised legislation in the Programme for Government?

For the fourth time, I will now read out the answer. The position in relation to legislation for this session is that it was circulated on 17 February.

That is not the question.

I do not know if the Deputy has read it or not.

The Taoiseach is treating this House with contempt.

Should the Deputy want to put down a separate question to any of the Ministers let him feel free to do so. That is the position and I know the Deputy may not like it. The Deputy wants to see the Programme for Government implemented in seven weeks but I do not think the public want that.

Why do we have programme managers appointed at public expense if the legislative commitments in the programme count for nothing?

Will the Taoiseach remind the Opposition that the Programme for Government has got the overwhelming endorsement of this House already, including the votes of 101 Deputies? Further, will he remind them who won the election?

Things have gone disastrously wrong after only three months of this Government and the Taoiseach has promised us already that we will have four years of the same performance. Does he now accept that, first, the Programme for Government was unrealistic, second, the Government's performance was not in keeping with the programme and that he should now withdraw from the scene?

I sympathise with the Deputy's frustration as he looks at four years plus on that side of the House. If he was here on budget day or cares to read the Minister for Finance's Budget Statement he will see that a number of issues have been dealt with already.

If that is the best the Taoiseach can offer——

We will continue to deal with them and we will come before the people in four years' time and account to them on what we delivered.

There will be no jobs left in four years — the country will be closed down.

Top
Share