It is proposed to take No. 11a, Budget Statement and Financial Motions by the Minister for Finance [2003], at the conclusion of questions to members of the Government. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that: (1) the Dáil shall sit later than 8.30 p.m. and the motions for the General Financial Resolution should be moved not later than 12 a.m. whereupon business shall be interrupted and the Dáil shall adjourn forthwith; (2) following the Budget Statement by the Minister for Finance the following arrangements shall apply for proceedings on No. 11a (i) the statements shall be confined to the main spokespersons for the Fine Gael Party, the Labour Party and the Technical Group who shall be called upon in that order and shall not exceed 45 minutes in each case; (ii) the spokespersons for the Technical Group shall be confined to a spokesperson for the Green Party, Sinn Féin and the Independent Deputies and shall not exceed 15 minutes in each case; (iii) following the statements the sitting shall be suspended for 30 minutes; and (iv) all divisions demanded under No. 11a shall be taken manually; and (3) the following time limits and sequence of speakers shall apply for Private Members' business, No. 35, motion re community employment schemes (resumed), which shall be taken at 12 p.m. and shall be brought to conclusion after 90 minutes: the Technical Group – 14 minutes, the Government – 30 minutes, the Labour Party – 20 minutes, the Government – 11 minutes, and the Labour Party 15 minutes.
Order of Business.
There are four proposals to put to the House. Is the proposal for the late sitting agreed? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 11a, arrangements for dealing with Budget Statement, agreed? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with divisions demanded on No. 11a agreed? Agreed. Is No. 4, proposal for dealing with Private Members' Business, agreed?
I do not recall a precedent where it was necessary to reintroduce an order because the Government side did not take up the time allotted to it, as happened in the debate last night. It was extraordinary that the Minister could not speak for the full time and sat down, with no Fianna Fáil Deputy offering to speak. This happened against a backdrop of being told that 40 Fianna Fáil Deputies are greatly concerned about the issue in question. The 40 worried Fianna Fáil backbenchers must have taken a vow of silence. Last night they behaved like Trappist monks. They did not come into the House to take up their time and the Government now proposes to use its superior numbers to encroach on the time of other parties in the House because the Fianna Fáil Deputies simply did not know what to say last night and did not want to come into the House.
I have never heard of such an event taking place, and for that reason I must oppose the proposal. It makes a humbug of Parliament that mature or supposedly mature Members of this House can claim to be so upset that they are going to lead a rebellion on a major issue and then, on getting the opportunity to speak on the matter in the House, go AWOL.
The Deputy should not believe everything he reads in the papers.
What Deputy Rabbitte says is factually incorrect. The Technical Group was called out of sequence last night. The Minister fell short of his allotted time but Deputy O'Connor, due to speak for the Government side after the Minister, was in the House and was available to speak. We get the same amount of time as others.
He did not offer. Deputy O'Connor was here and did not offer to speak. He said he would speak today. That is not accurate.
Allow the Taoiseach to speak.
The Taoiseach is incorrect in regard to what happened.
Deputy Cregan was also in the House. The Technical Group was called, and a number of Government backbenchers will be very glad to speak today.
In the interests of clarity and truth I must correct the Taoiseach. Considering that the Government was not offering, the Technical Group would have lost its slot last night if some of its members had not come in to speak,
That is the truth.
We had to speak. To be fair and in accordance with the long-standing arrangement of time as allocated, the Government should be allowed 11 minutes less time today.
Hear, hear.
That would allow for fairness in the allocation of time over the three hours. That is the bottom line and the truth. The Government did not offer. If the Technical Group, represented by Deputies Boyle and Cowley, had not come in to speak in the House, the group would have lost its slot. There was no choice in the matter.
That is not correct.
We did not want to take the Government time, for which we are supposedly grateful, but had to do so because the Government was not offering.
That is not true.
Deputy O'Connor said he would speak today.
Deputy Rabbitte should not tell lies.
I am not telling lies.
I watched the debate very carefully yesterday evening and I assure the House that the Technical Group was obliged to participate at the time appointed by the Chair on the grounds that nobody from the Government benches was offering to take the opportunity. Whatever occurred subsequently, that was the factual position at that time. It certainly underscores the hypocrisy of the position adopted by 40 Government backbenchers—
The Deputy is trying to silence us.
—who wish to create a smokescreen of concern around community employment schemes but do not have the balls to come into the House to state their position and, more importantly, to vote accordingly at the conclusion of this debate.
The Deputy is trying to take our time.
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Ahern, Bertie.Ahern, Dermot.Ahern, Michael.Ahern, Noel.Andrews, Barry.Ardagh, Seán.Aylward, Liam.Blaney, Niall.Brady, Johnny.Brady, Martin.Brennan, Seamus.Browne, John.Callanan, Joe.Callely, Ivor.Carey, Pat.Carty, John.Cassidy, Donie.Collins, Michael.Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.Coughlan, Mary.Cowen, Brian.Cregan, John.Cullen, Martin.Curran, John.Davern, Noel.Dempsey, Noel.Dempsey, Tony.Dennehy, John.Devins, Jimmy.Ellis, John.Finneran, Michael.Fitzpatrick, Dermot.Fleming, Seán.Gallagher, Pat The Cope.Glennon, Jim.Grealish, Noel. |
Hanafin, Mary.Hoctor, Máire.Jacob, Joe.Keaveney, Cecilia.Kelleher, Billy.Kelly, Peter.Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Seamus.Lenihan, Brian.Lenihan, Conor.McDaid, James.McEllistrim, Thomas.McGuinness, John.Martin, Micheál.Moloney, John.Moynihan, Donal.Moynihan, Michael.Mulcahy, Michael.Nolan, M. J.Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.O'Connor, Charlie.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donnell, Liz.O'Donoghue, John.O'Donovan, Denis.O'Flynn, Noel.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Malley, Fiona.O'Malley, Tim.Parlon, Tom.Power, Peter.Power, Seán.Sexton, Mae.Smith, Brendan.Smith, Michael.Wallace, Dan. |
Wallace, Mary.Walsh, Joe.Wilkinson, Ollie. |
Woods, Michael.Wright, G. V. |
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Boyle, Dan.Breen, James.Breen, Pat.Broughan, Thomas P.Burton, Joan.Connaughton, Paul.Connolly, Paudge.Costello, Joe.Coveney, Simon.Cowley, Jerry.Crawford, Seymour.Crowe, Seán.Deenihan, Jimmy.Durkan, Bernard J.Enright, Olwyn.Ferris, Martin.Gilmore, Eamon.Gogarty, Paul.Gormley, John.Gregory, Tony.Harkin, Marian.Hayes, Tom.Higgins, Joe.Higgins, Michael D.Hogan, Phil.Howlin, Brendan.Kehoe, Paul.Kenny, Enda.Lynch, Kathleen.McCormack, Padraic.McGinley, Dinny. |
McGrath, Finian.McGrath, Paul.McHugh, Paddy.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Gay.Mitchell, Olivia.Morgan, Arthur.Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.Murphy, Gerard.Neville, Dan.Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.O'Dowd, Fergus.O'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Penrose, Willie.Perry, John.Quinn, Ruairí.Rabbitte, Pat.Ring, Michael.Ryan, Eamon.Ryan, Seán.Sargent, Trevor.Sherlock, Joe.Shortall, Róisín.Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Timmins, Billy.Twomey, Liam.Upton, Mary. |