It is proposed to take Nos. 18, 14 and 2. It is also proposed, notwithstanding anything contained in Standing Orders, that business shall be interrupted not later than 4.45 p.m. today and No. 8 shall be decided without debate.
Order of Business.
Is the proposal that business shall be interrupted at 4.45 p.m. today satisfactory and agreed?
No. The Government proposes to debate the Budget Statement all day. That is a complete waste of time because, whereas yesterday the Tánaiste defended the residential property tax, we read in the morning papers that the Government is proceeding to abandon it. There is no point in discussing a budget to which the Government is not committed. The Government clearly does not know what it is doing about the residential property tax issue, it is working by leak and innuendo.
The budget debate will commence again today.
There is no point in continuing the charade of a debate on a budget to which the Government is not committed.
The observations can be made on the debate on the budget proper which is about to resume.
What is the point?
I am objecting to taking a budget debate when the Government is not committed to the budget.
Deputy Proinsias De Rossa——
I wish to press the issue.
The Deputy will be afforded an opportunity to vote against that proposal.
An equally important matter arises. In view of the fact it appears now that the £5 million property tax is to be abandoned when does the Government intend to announce abandoning the £30 million tax on the unemployed?
I told the Deputy that yesterday evening.
Will Deputy Broughan and Deputy Shortall ask for that, and will they get it?
They are matters that can be adverted to in the debate on the budget.
(Interruptions.)
The points raised by Deputies Bruton and De Rossa are matters on which it is important to get clarification. Does the Taoiseach acknowledge that there are now as many cracks in this Government as there are in the chimneys to which the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Taylor, has been referring?
(Interruptions.)
I am putting the question that business shall be interrupted not later than 4.45 p.m. today.
Question put.
The Dáil divided: Tá, 60; Níl, 33.
Tá
- Ahern, Michael.
- Ahern, Noel.
- Andrews, David.
- Bhreathnach, Niamh.
- Bree, Declan.
- Brennan, Matt.
- Broughan, Tommy.
- Browne, John (Wexford).
- Byrne, Hugh.
- Callely, Ivor.
- Costello, Joe.
- Coughlan, Mary.
- Ellis, John.
- Ferris, Michael,
- Fitzgerald, Brian.
- Fitzgerald, Eithne.
- Flood, Chris.
- Foley, Denis.
- Gallagher, Pat.
- Geoghegan-Quinn, Máire.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Higgins, Michael D.
- Hyland, Liam.
- Jacob, Joe.
- Kavanagh, Liam.
- Kemmy, Jim.
- Kenneally, Brendan.
- Kenny, Seán.
- Killeen, Tony.
- Lawlor, Liam.
- Leonard, Jimmy.
- Martin, Micheál.
- McDowell, Derek.
- Moynihan, Donal.
- Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.
- Mulvihill, John.
- Ó Cuív, Eamon.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Hanlon, Rory.
- O'Keeffe, Ned.
- O'Leary, John.
- O'Rourke, Mary.
- O'Shea, Brian.
- O'Sullivan, Toddy.
- Penrose, William.
- Power, Seán.
- Quinn, Ruairí.
- Reynolds, Albert.
- Ryan, Eoin.
- Ryan, John.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Spring, Dick.
- Stagg, Emmet.
- Taylor, Mervyn.
- Treacy, Noel.
- Wallace, Dan.
- Walsh, Eamon.
- Walsh, Joe.
- Woods, Michael.
Níl
- Allen, Bernard.
- Barrett, Seán.
- Browne, John (Carlow-Kilkenny).
- Bruton, John.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Carey, Donal.
- Crawford, Seymour.
- Cullen, Martin.
- Currie, Austin.
- Deasy, Austin.
- De Rossa, Proinsias.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- Finucane, Michael.
- Fitzgerald, Frances.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Harney, Mary.
- Harte, Paddy.
- Kenny, Enda.
- Keogh, Helen.
- McCormack, Pádraic.
- McGrath, Paul.
- McManus, Liz.
- Mitchell, Gay.
- Mitchell, Jim.
- Molloy, Robert.
- O'Donnell, Liz.
- O'Keeffe, Jim.
- Owen, Nora.
- Quill, Máirín.
- Rabbitte, Pat.
- Sargent, Trevor.
- Sheehan, P.J.
- Yates, Ivan.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Browne(Wexford) and Ferris; Níl, Deputies E. Kenny and Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny).
Question declared carried.
Is it agreed that No. 8 be decided without debate? Agreed.
Will the Taoiseach respond to the initiative from the British Government? Could I encourage the Government to seize the initiative from Sinn Féin and respond positively to the British initiative which we read about this morning in relation to Northern Ireland?
I thought the Deputy was going to raise something appropriate on the Order of Business.
It is appropriate on the Order of Business and perhaps the Taoiseach would like to respond.
The Deputy might pursue that in another way.
It is important that the Government seizes the initiative from Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin in relation to what is happening in Northern Ireland. The Taoiseach would like to reply. You are not giving him the opportunity.
I am sorry, Deputy Harney. You will have to pursue it in another way.
I suggest, a Cheann Comhairle, that everything Deputies raise in this House is appropriate. Will the Taoiseach provide time next week for a debate on Northern Ireland and to outline the progress to date on the Joint Declaration which the British and Irish Governments signed and which this House has supported, particularly in view of the vacuum in regard to political progress in Northern Ireland which is being filled by Mr. Adams and his cohorts in the Provisional IRA?
We should be discussing potential legislation.
It is normal procedure, and it is usually in order to ask for debates of particular importance.
I support Deputy de Rossa's request. The Taoiseach should be willing to keep an open mind on a day-to-day basis in regard to when it is appropriate to have debates on the North because things are changing from day to day. He might want to answer that request rather than let us come in here each day to demand or extract from him time in the House to discuss a most serious issue.
The House would have no difficulty in these matters if the procedure which we all know should apply was adhered to.
(Interruptions.)
I understand there are precedents which indicate my request is in order and that it is in order for the Taoiseach to respond to my request for a debate on this important issue.
The Taoiseach wants to respond.
It has been consistently ruled in this House that requesting statements was not appropriate to the Order of Business——
We are requesting time for a debate.
——and can be pursued in many other ways.
We have had the appalling situation in the past few days where the leader of Sinn Féin is being treated as a superstar and the politicians seem to be standing idly by.
What is the delay in introducing the promised legislation to allow Irish women to receive information on abortion available overseas? I am embarrassed at having to raise this continually, given that there are four women on the Government benches. This legislation was earnestly promised before Christmas by the junior Minister at the Department of Health.
The matter is well advanced in regard to drafting.
There is precedent whereby when the Opposition, particularly the combined Opposition, request Government time to have a debate on something special such as Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach has responded, in some instances positively.
I am well aware of that.
Constitutional politics have been, to a degree, sidelined since the declaration. We would like to see constitutional politics restored North and South of the Border and this would be a proper way to achieve that. As somebody who sincerely supported the Government in its efforts to achieve peace, I ask the Taoiseach to agree to the request to have a reasoned debate on the North in the very near future.
This matter has been discussed at some length. I am calling Deputy Allen.
In view of the fact that the Government is having a rethink on the property tax will the Minister for Social Welfare now consider removing the very mean attempt to means-test widows?
I am proceeding now to Item No. 8.