It is proposed to take No. 10, motion on the proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the terms of the International Convention against Doping — back from committee; No. 10a, motion re the Dublin and Monaghan bombings; and No. b10, motion re the national development plan and the economy (resumed). It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that Nos. 10 and 10a shall be decided without debate and that the Dáil shall adjourn forthwith on the conclusion of Question Time until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 24 September 2008.
Order of Business.
There are two proposals before the House. Is the proposal for dealing with Nos. 10 and 10a, without debate, agreed?
Before we proceed to take anything without debate, I want to know why the Department of Finance's document, which we are told has been laid before RTE, has not been laid before the House.
We are dealing with the proposal for Nos. 10 and 10a.
I am proposing that we should not take motions without debate until we are clear that the business of the day will be conducted on the basis of sound information.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
It appears the Government has something to hide. It is leaking information, the latest instalment of which has been to RTE. I searched in the Oireachtas Library and asked other media contacts but cannot find this document. It seems the Department of Finance wants us to conclude our business today and only then will this document will be revealed. That is no way to treat the House.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
On the same matter, I asked the Taoiseach yesterday when we can expect the published information from the taxation study group, which should be available by now, and the booklet on pensions and pay, which is normally published by the Department of Finance at this time of year. I also asked about the detailed report from the Department on the proposed budgetary changes. We had many arguments yesterday about how the savings of €400 million for this year and €1 billion for next year can be found. The issue is that while the Taoiseach said yesterday that tax revenues will be down by €3 billion next year, he has only told us where savings of €1 billion will come from. We are entitled, as a democratic Parliament, to know the intentions of the Government in regard to the other €2 billion in savings that must be found in 2009.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
What have the Department's public relations people to say about that?
The Taoiseach dealt with this yesterday. The publication will be posted on the Department's website. That is the method by which it will be made available.
Was it posted yesterday?
It will be posted today.
There is no explanation on the website.
On No. 10a——
It will be published at 11 p.m.
(Interruptions).
Is the proposal to deal with Nos. 10 and 10a agreed?
Question, "That the proposal for dealing with Nos. 10 and 10a be agreed to”, put and declared carried.
I have a question on No. 10a.
My colleague, Deputy Costello, wishes to raise a question on the proposal that is before the House.
The difficulty is that in the case of proposals before the House on the Order of Business, only one speaker from each party may come forward.
Deputy Costello wishes to support the proposal.
I have heard from the Deputy's party and from the Fine Gael Party. There can only be one intervention from each party.
A Deputy
The Ceann Comhairle did not like what he heard.
I must be the judge of that.
(Interruptions).
It is simple. There can be only one intervention from each party. I am being perfectly fair. There cannot be a second intervention, even from the Member who represented that party in the first instance. The Tánaiste replied to the questions put by the Fine Gael Member and the Labour Party Member and I then asked whether the proposal was agreed. I declared the question carried and nobody called a vote.
They did not deal with the issue.
Let me finish. We must obey Standing Orders in this respect, otherwise there would be mayhem. Therefore we cannot hear a second intervention on it.
I had my hand up at the same time.
I was dealing with the second item. Perhaps the previous speaker may not have been in order but I am certainly in order.
We cannot have another intervention on it.
No. 10a is a motion regarding the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. I welcome the fact that it has come before the House and will be approved. This is something that has been going on for a long time, since the original victims’ commission was established in 1998 under the former Tánaiste, John Wilson. Mr. Justice Hamilton and later Mr. Justice Barron presided over the investigation. Much work has been done in both Houses of the Oireachtas on the matter and it is welcome that the motion is being transmitted to the House of Commons with a request for access to the relevant documents through a judicial figure. I am concerned, however, that the motion will be taken without debate. When we transmit the matter to the House of Commons its Members might ask how it came from the Dáil on the last sitting day without a debate but with the background information. While there has been all-party agreement on it, I do not think we can do anything about it at present but we should debate the issue in the autumn. I ask the Government Chief Whip and the Tánaiste if that can be agreed.
We can certainly consider it in the context of the next session.
On a point of order, the point raised by Deputies Bruton and Burton has not been addressed. The question was whether certain information would be laid before the House. The answer the Tánaiste gave was that it was on the web.
That is not a point of order.
With due respect, it is a point of order.
No, it is not. A point of order relates to procedure and its implementation.
Putting the information on the web is not putting it before the House, it is showing contempt for the House.
I must move on.
There can be no doubt but that that is what was intended in the first place.
The Deputy is out of order.
The Ceann Comhairle is a long-serving Member of this House and he knows full well that it is showing absolute contempt for the House.
The Deputy will have to find another way of raising that matter. It has been dealt with.
Putting an item on the web is not laying it before the House.
It is not even on the web.
I must move on to No. 2.
The Tánaiste should answer the question.
They are two different items.
They are running for cover.
Is the proposal that the Dáil shall adjourn on the conclusion of Question Time today until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 24 September 2008 agreed?
No, it is definitely not agreed. More than anyone else, the Ceann Comhairle will be aware that we are presiding over a period of extraordinary economic uncertainty. Unemployment has risen faster in the past few months than in a whole generation. We see prices in our shops which, as the Tánaiste admits, are 31% higher than in Northern Ireland. We see the worst deterioration in the public finances in the history of the State and, in addition, access by air to this country is almost collapsing, while there is no back-up to deal with it. This is no situation in which to adjourn the House until September without a facility to address these issues. The adjournment is being sought by a Government that is sticking its head in the sand. The debate we have had over the past two days has only the most tenuous connection to the serious economic challenges we face. There is no strategy to address the decline in competitiveness, tackle unemployment or address inflation and its effect on families. We expect people to agree to moderate pay agreements in the country's interest, but the Government is not putting in place a strategy in which we can have the confidence to manage our finances, protect families and build a strong economy.
This is not a time to adjourn the House on the back of a debate that is being conducted without any proper documentation from the Government side. The Government is clearly running for cover. It reminds me of a cork bobbing helplessly in the ocean. All we have heard from Ministers are bewildered mumblings that they are in control of our destiny, but they are not in control of what is happening. Everyone is beginning to see that. At last, the PR cuts are showing through because the spin the Government has tried to present is finally falling asunder. The notion that it has any strategy to deal with these huge challenges has just been dismantled. Fine Gael does not support the adjournment proposal.
Three weeks ago, the Labour Party proposed a motion that the Dáil should continue in session until the end of July and return in early September. We argued in favour of that on the grounds that the country is facing serious economic and political difficulties. The Government needs to be accountable to the House in a way that it has not been before. I acknowledge that as a result of that motion we are sitting this week and it appears that we will be back a bit earlier in September than is normally the case. However, given the circumstances in which the country now finds itself, the Government proposal to close down the Dáil from today until 24 September is simply unacceptable.
It is particularly unacceptable today because as we sit here, passengers in Dublin Airport do not know when their flights will take off. It is the second day of chaos at the airport. The country is becoming a disgrace. We have a bad economic situation and the Government does not know what to do about it. It now wants to run away, get back in the bunker and introduce slashing cuts of one kind or another over the next couple of months. In addition, people cannot get into or out of the country. It is an absolute disgrace, yet in those circumstances the Government wants to close down the Dáil until the end of September. It is not acceptable. The Labour Party does not agree to this proposal.
A number of issues have been raised. It is important to say that, contrary to public belief, which has been augmented in the discussions in this House, work will continue. The Government will continue to govern——
When will they start?
——and Members of this House will continue to do their work.
Do they know what governing means?
We are voting for Opposition Members' holidays.
All Members of the House will continue to work in committees for the duration of July and in September.
The Tánaiste must be allowed to reply.
I have listened to what has been said on the Opposition benches where there is a refusal, particularly by the Fine Gael Party, to accept that international factors have had an impact on our economy. It is nonsensical to believe that.
What other economy? Is it Zambia's?
Zimbabwe.
We will continue to address the strategies, one of which is to ensure that we will work within the budgetary framework, which we are continuing to do.
There is €2 billion missing.
With regard to all the information that is made available, every Minister and the majority of Ministers of State will continue to attend the House until 3.30 p.m. to outline specifically the issues they are addressing. That information is available to this House.
They will be rushing away with their buckets and spades.
The tax strategy document, which is a totally different question from that which Deputy Bruton asked, will be on the web today.
Question put: "That the proposal for dealing with the adjourment of the Dáil be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 79; Níl, 58.
Tá
- Ahern, Dermot.
- Ahern, Michael.
- Ahern, Noel.
- Andrews, Barry.
- Ardagh, Seán.
- Aylward, Bobby.
- Behan, Joe.
- Blaney, Niall.
- Brady, Áine.
- Brady, Cyprian.
- Browne, John.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Carey, Pat.
- Collins, Niall.
- Conlon, Margaret.
- Connick, Seán.
- Coughlan, Mary.
- Cregan, John.
- Cuffe, Ciarán.
- Cullen, Martin.
- Curran, John.
- Dempsey, Noel.
- Devins, Jimmy.
- Dooley, Timmy.
- Fahey, Frank.
- Finneran, Michael.
- Fitzpatrick, Michael.
- Flynn, Beverley.
- Gallagher, Pat The Cope.
- Gogarty, Paul.
- Gormley, John.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Hanafin, Mary.
- Harney, Mary.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Healy-Rae, Jackie.
- Hoctor, Máire.
- Kelleher, Billy.
- Kelly, Peter.
- Kenneally, Brendan.
- Kennedy, Michael.
- Killeen, Tony.
- Kirk, Seamus.
- Kitt, Michael P.
- Lenihan, Brian.
- Lenihan, Conor.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Mansergh, Martin.
- McEllistrim, Thomas.
- McGrath, Finian.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McGuinness, John.
- Moloney, John.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Mulcahy, Michael.
- Nolan, M.J.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- O’Brien, Darragh.
- O’Connor, Charlie.
- O’Dea, Willie.
- O’Flynn, Noel.
- O’Hanlon, Rory.
- O’Keeffe, Batt.
- O’Keeffe, Edward.
- O’Rourke, Mary.
- O’Sullivan, Christy.
- Power, Seán.
- Roche, Dick.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Sargent, Trevor.
- Scanlon, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Treacy, Noel.
- Wallace, Mary.
- White, Mary Alexandra.
- Woods, Michael.
Níl
- Breen, Pat.
- Broughan, Thomas P.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Ulick.
- Burton, Joan.
- Byrne, Catherine.
- Carey, Joe.
- Clune, Deirdre.
- Connaughton, Paul.
- Costello, Joe.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Crawford, Seymour.
- D’Arcy, Michael.
- Deasy, John.
- Deenihan, Jimmy.
- Doyle, Andrew.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Feighan, Frank.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Flanagan, Terence.
- Gilmore, Eamon.
- Hayes, Brian.
- Hayes, Tom.
- Higgins, Michael D.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lynch, Kathleen.
- McCormack, Pádraic.
- McEntee, Shane.
- McGinley, Dinny.
- McHugh, Joe.
- Morgan, Arthur.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Neville, Dan.
- Noonan, Michael.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- O’Donnell, Kieran.
- O’Keeffe, Jim.
- O’Mahony, John.
- O’Shea, Brian.
- O’Sullivan, Jan.
- Perry, John.
- Quinn, Ruairí.
- Rabbitte, Pat.
- Reilly, James.
- Ring, Michael.
- Shatter, Alan.
- Sheahan, Tom.
- Sheehan, P.J.
- Sherlock, Seán.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Stagg, Emmet.
- Stanton, David.
- Timmins, Billy.
- Tuffy, Joanna.
- Upton, Mary.
- Varadkar, Leo.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Pat Carey and John Cregan; Níl, Deputies Paul Kehoe and Emmet Stagg.
Question declared carried.