Under Standing Order 120, I move: "That the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2000 [Seanad], be recommitted”.
Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2000 [ Seanad ] : Motion.
I did not hear the reasons for the proposal.
Acting Chairman
Does the Minister want to hear the reasons before comments?
We cannot—
Perhaps I can give the reasons. I appreciate it is unusual to move that a Bill, as a whole, be recommitted to Committee Stage. I would like to give my reasons.
The Labour Party is opposed to the Bill as a whole and intends to vote against it. Report Stage is guillotined and is due to finish at 6 p.m. That means, at most, we have two and a half hours of debate for the Bill. Realistically, and because there are substantial issues contained in amendments tabled for Report Stage, we will not get to complete all the amendments listed for Report Stage. In my view we will not be able to debate or vote on those amendments. I expect a number of the amendments will require a division.
This morning the Government circulated a new amendment dealing with the prohibition of opinion polls in the last week of an election campaign. That amendment is to page 94 of the Bill. Given the guillotine on the debate, that amendment will not be reached. That means that at the end of the debate at 6 p.m. the question that will be put on the amendment, which I understand is a Government amendment, will be to accept the Bill and any of the Government amendments thereto. If the amendment is put at that stage and in that form it will automatically become part of the Bill without having been debated and discussed on Report Stage. There are matters in the Government amendment which amount to almost a new Bill. There are new definitions proposed which should properly be considered as part of the definitions section. There is the substantive issue in relation to the prohibition of opinion polls in the seven days prior to an election. I expressed my own views on that issue on Committee Stage last week. There are proposals for new offences which have not been considered on Committee Stage which involve fines of up to £100,000 or imprisonment for up to two years. Effectively, this is proposing the possible imprisonment of, for example, newspaper editors for a period of two years.
Whatever views we may have on the issue of the banning of opinion polls a week before an election, it is not appropriate that the Legislature should seek to make law in an area such as this without considered discussion. The only way to get considered discussion of this matter is by referring the entire Bill back to Committee Stage.
The issues that have to be considered are wider now, as a result of the Government amendment, than the issue of the prohibition on opinion polls. I do not propose to go into the detail but I give this as an example of the kind of issue that I think the House would want to consider. As defined in the Government amendment, "Opinion poll" means:
. . . a systematic inquiry conducted by means of questioning a sample of persons considered to be representative of the population of the State or any part thereof for the purpose of ascertaining the likely opinions of the population of the State as a whole or part thereof on matters relating to an election or referendum etc.
That would mean a canvasser at election time marking an electoral register and asking voters how they intended to vote would be guilty of an offence under this proposal.
The reason I propose that the Bill be recommitted is that this entire issue requires greater consideration and debate. Issues arise from the Government's amendment, which we got only this morning and I have had only an initial opinion on it, which are wider than the issue relating to opinion polls as discussed on Committee Stage.
I propose that the entire Bill be recommitted to Committee Stage so that Members can have a proper debate on the issue and that parties outside the House can have an opportunity to contribute to that debate.
I reject the arguments being made and I reject the proposal for recommittal. The "opinion poll" amendment was raised on Committee Stage and a good discussion took place. The amendment was tabled by Deputy Mitchell. Deputy Gilmore contributed to the discussion and indicated his clear support for the intent of the amendment. I indicated that the Government side was prepared to accept the intent of the amendment but that it would need to be structured in such a way as to meet the requirements of the Parliamentary Counsel and good law to ensure that what was proposed could be implemented. That is the normal standard procedure. There was a firm commitment to bring forward an amendment on the part of the Government at the behest of the Opposition. The official amendment is grouped with amendment No. 15 so that the matter can be reached today. With regard to the grouping, we can discuss only the Report Stage amendments. As is normal, amendments relating to similar matters are grouped where that is deemed appropriate. In this case, the sixth group contains amendment Nos. 15 and 34 (a), one of which is Deputy Mitchell's amendment and the other is a Government amendment. There is no reason we cannot reach the sixth group of amendments by 6 p.m. even taking account of Question Time. There is ample time for discussion. I cannot agree that there is any argument, under the rules of this House, for a recommital.
Acting Chairman
I regret the Chair cannot allow Deputy Gilmore to speak again on the matter. He has made the explanatory statement to which he is entitled as the person proposing the recommital. I am now obliged to put the question.
Question put.
Tá
|
Allen, Bernard.Barnes, Monica.Bell, Michael.Belton, Louis J.Boylan, Andrew.Bradford, Paul.Broughan, Thomas P.Bruton, Richard.Burke, Ulick.Carey, Donal.Clune, Deirdre.Currie, Austin.Dukes, Alan.Durkan, Bernard.Enright, Thomas.Fitzgerald, Frances.Gilmore, Éamon.Gormley, John.Gregory, Tony.Higgins, Jim.Higgins, Joe.Hogan, Philip. |
Howlin, Brendan.McCormack, Pádraic.McGahon, Brendan.McGinley, Dinny.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Gay.Mitchell, Olivia.Naughten, Denis.Neville, Dan.Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.O'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Owen, Nora.Penrose, William.Rabbitte, Pat.Sargent, Trevor.Spring, Dick.Stagg, Emmet.Timmins, Billy.Upton, Mary. |
Níl
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Ahern, Dermot.Ahern, Michael.Ahern, Noel.Aylward, Liam.Blaney, Harry.Brady, Johnny.Brady, Martin.Brennan, Séamus.Byrne, Hugh.Callely, Ivor. |
Carey, Pat.Collins, Michael.Coughlan, Mary.Cullen, Martin.Daly, Brendan.de Valera, Síle.Dennehy, John.Doherty, Seán.Ellis, John. Fahey, Frank. |
Níl–continued
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Fleming, Seán.Flood, Chris.Gildea, Thomas.Hanafin, Mary.Haughey, Seán.Healy-Rae, Jackie.Jacob, Joe.Kelleher, Billy.Kenneally, Brendan.Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Séamus.Lenihan, Brian.Lenihan, Conor.Moffatt, Thomas.Molloy, Robert.Moloney, John.Moynihan, Donal.Moynihan, Michael. |
Ó Cuív, Éamon.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donoghue, John.O'Hanlon, Rory.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Keeffe, Ned.O'Malley, Desmond.Reynolds, Albert.Roche, Dick.Ryan, Eoin.Smith, Brendan.Smith, Michael.Treacy, Noel.Wallace, Dan.Walsh, Joe.Woods, Michael.Wright, G. V. |
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Stagg and Bradford; Níl, Deputies M. Ahern and S. Brennan.
Question declared lost.