It is proposed to take No. 9a, motion re. Membership of the Joint Committee on Broadcasting and Parliamentary Information; No. 9b, motion re. Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions; No. 9c, motion re. Referral of Estimates for the Public Services (1998) to Select Committees; and No. 21, Statements on the Report of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on child care services in Ireland. It is also proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that Nos. 9a, 9b and 9c shall be decided without debate and that the following arrangements shall apply in relation to No. 21: the opening statement of the Minister or Minister of State and the main spokespersons of the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party shall not exceed 30 minutes in each case; the statement of each other Member called upon shall not exceed 20 minutes in each case; Members may share time; and the Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a statement in reply which shall not exceed 15 minutes. The Dáil, on its rising today, shall adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 6 May 1998.
Order of Business.
There are three proposals to be put to the House. Is the proposal for dealing with Nos. 9a, 9b and 9c agreed to?
I have a problem with No. 9c. I believe the Dáil should have an opportunity to debate on the Estimate for the Department of Finance. The revelation that the Department of Finance cannot find files in its possession after a three month search and that it has been less than frank in disclosing its difficulties in this matter until now suggests that the Estimate for the Department of Finance should not be referred to a committee of the House but should be discussed in the House. If the Department which is responsible for administrative procedures and for the implementation of strategic management in the public service is unable to maintain proper care over its own files, questions need to be answered in this House.
The Order of Business was agreed by the Whips. It is the normal practice that Estimates such as this are referred to a committee. If there are other matters about which Members wish to table questions, they are entitled to do so. The item to which the Deputy referred was debated last night.
We cannot have a protracted discussion on this. Is the proposal for dealing with Nos. 9a, 9b and 9c agreed to?
No.
The question is: "That the proposal for dealing with Nos. 9a, 9b and 9c be agreed to."
Tá
- Ahern, Bertie.
- Ahern, Dermot.
- Ahern, Michael.
- Andrews, David.
- Ardagh, Seán.
- Aylward, Liam.
- Blaney, Harry.
- Brady, Johnny.
- Brady, Martin.
- Brennan, Matt.
- Brennan, Séamus.
- Briscoe, Ben.
- Browne, John (Wexford).
- Byrne, Hugh.
- Callely, Ivor.
- Carey, Pat.
- Collins, Michael.
- Cowen, Brian.
- Cullen, Martin.
- Daly, Brendan.
- Davern, Noel.
- de Valera, Síle.
- Dennehy, John.
- Doherty, Seán.
- Ellis, John.
- Fahey, Frank.
- Fleming, Seán.
- Flood, Chris.
- Foley, Denis.
- Fox, Mildred.
- Hanafin, Mary.
- Harney, Mary.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Keaveney, Cecilia.
- Kelleher, Billy.
- Kenneally, Brendan.
- Killeen, Tony.
- Kirk, Séamus.
- Kitt, Michael.
- Kitt, Tom.
- Lawlor, Liam.
- Lenihan, Brian.
- Lenihan, Conor.
- Martin, Micheál.
- McDaid, James.
- McGennis, Marian.
- McGuinness, John.
- Moffatt, Thomas.
- Molloy, Robert.
- Moloney, John.
- Moynihan, Donal.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- O'Donnell, Liz.
- O'Donoghue, John.
- O'Flynn, Noel.
- O'Hanlon, Rory.
- O'Keeffe, Batt.
- O'Keeffe, Ned.
- O'Malley, Desmond.
- O'Rourke, Mary.
- Roche, Dick.
- Ryan, Eoin.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smith, Michael.
- Treacy, Noel.
- Wade, Eddie.
- Wallace, Dan.
- Wallace, Mary.
- Woods, Michael.
- Wright, G.V.
Níl
- Barnes, Monica.
- Bell, Michael.
- Belton, Louis.
- Boylan, Andrew.
- Bradford, Paul.
- Broughan, Thomas.
- Browne, John (Carlow-Kilkenny).
- Bruton, John.
- Burke, Ulick.
- Carey, Donal.
- Connaughton, Paul.
- Cosgrave, Michael.
- Crawford, Seymour.
- Currie, Austin.
- D'Arcy, Michael.
- De Rossa, Proinsias.
- Deenihan, Jimmy.
- Dukes, Alan.
- Durkan, Bernard.
- Ferris, Michael.
- Finucane, Michael.
- Fitzgerald, Frances.
- Perry, John.
- Rabbitte, Pat.
- Reynolds, Gerard.
- Ryan, Seán.
- Sargent, Trevor.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Gormley, John.
- Hayes, Brian.
- Higgins, Joe.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kenny, Enda.
- McCormack, Pádraic.
- McGahon, Brendan.
- McGinley, Dinny.
- McGrath, Paul.
- McManus, Liz.
- Mitchell, Gay.
- Mitchell, Jim.
- Mitchell, Olivia.
- Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.
- Neville, Dan.
- Noonan, Michael.
- O'Keeffe, Jim.
- O'Shea, Brian.
- O'Sullivan, Jan.
- Owen, Nora.
- Penrose, William.
- Shatter, Alan.
- Sheehan, Patrick.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Stagg, Emmet.
- Upton, Pat.
Is the proposal for dealing with No. 21 agreed? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with the Adjournment of the Dáil until next Wednesday agreed? Agreed.
Some time ago the Fine Gael Whip, Deputy Barrett, raised with the Taoiseach the fact that a number of Bills referred to committee are delayed and the committees have not met in some cases to consider these Bills. This matter is in the Government's hands as its parties hold the Chair on most of these committees. The Taoiseach said that he would inquire into this. What are the results of his inquiries? Have they determined that the problem was that Ministers were not available to take the legislation or that the Chairs were unable to call meetings to facilitate Ministers?
Deputy Barrett raised this matter with me on the Order of Business at 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday. Yesterday I asked the Government Whip to investigate the matter and write to all the Chairmen. There are a variety of reasons legislation has been delayed. Through the Government Whip's letter I asked all the Chairmen to move on the Bills as speedily as possible.
On Tuesday's Order of Business the Leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Quinn, raised the terms of reference of the Moriarty tribunal with the Taoiseach who stated that the interpretation of the court was in accordance with the views expressed in the House. Has he had a chance to reflect on this. I reread the record of the debates and when an amendment was moved by Deputy Noonan to the terms of reference to specifically require that "public office" would include membership of the House, so that someone being looked at would have their periods in Opposition examined as well as periods in Government, Deputy McCreevy said that was the interpretation of "public office". This was the clear view of the House. It would run counter to that if the term "holding public office" was now to be solely and narrowly defined as holding ministerial office. Will the Taoiseach comment on that?
I have not read the judgment. The Attorney General has extensively examined it and I may give a report on that when he reports to me. The Chairman of the tribunal felt a number of matters required clarification as there may have been some ambiguity. Two of these matters were mentioned by Deputy Quinn on Tuesday. The Chairman went on to correctly interpret them. I have not examined the full statement but I will do so over the next few days.
Will the Taoiseach agree that it is the will of the House, and it was the expressed will of the House when the terms of reference were agreed, that "public office" would mean periods as a member of either House of the Oireachtas as well as periods in ministerial office?
That was the clarification given on a number of occasions during the debate. However, I would like to see the full judgment and the arguments which the eminent judge put forward.
In light of the statement by the IRA in An Phoblacht, will the Taoiseach confirm that part and parcel of the Good Friday Agreement is a commitment that there would be decommissioning of all paramilitary weapons within two years of the endorsement of the Agreement North and South?
This matter is not strictly appropriate to the Order of Business. However, the Taoiseach may wish to comment on it.
I refuse to comment on IRA statements. However, in so far as the question relates to decommissioning, the section dealing with this issue in the document is very clear.
When will the Local Government (No. 2) Bill come before the House?
After the summer. I answered this question for the Deputy before.
No. That was a different Bill on planning and development.
The Bill is to modernise local government legislation to implement the reform measures. It will be at the end of 1998.