Notwithstanding the announcement by the Minister of State that time will be allocated to discuss the Dublin Airport crisis, I must put on the record our alarm that yesterday 75 flights were cancelled and 20 diverted but there is no backup for a system which has had five failures in one month.
Order of Business (Resumed).
Deputy Bruton, that is not in order. I have indicated I will allow a special notice question. That is as fair as I can be about it. It will be taken in 55 minutes.
I appreciate that but I just want to put down the marker that we are appalled at the situation that has developed.
The Fine Gael spokesperson can discuss it then.
The pink list of the Government's legislative programme has 17 Bills that are to be produced. At this stage, ten of them have not even been published. That is an indictment of the Government's inability to manage its business. In the middle of 2008, it must be noted we have the worst record of legislation in the history of the State. It shows there is no one on the other side of the House in control and coherently managing the legislative programme.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment promised legislation for the introduction of on-the-spot fines for breaches of consumer law. She has pronounced there have been tremendous changes in the prices in shops. Will she elaborate on these tremendous changes? Will she also indicate when this new legislative power, which she believes is necessary and consumers feel is long overdue, will be introduced onto the Statute Book?
I presume the Deputy is referring to the Fines Bill from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
The Bill I am referring to was included in the Fianna Fáil programme for Government and relates to consumer protection.
That legislation is not on the Government's legislative programme.
Is it correct the Government is not delivering this commitment contained in the Fianna Fáil programme for Government?
It is not one of the priorities. I must deal with several legislative measures which have been agreed with the social partners.
The Government's record to date is that it has not dealt with the legislative measures which were to be introduced this year. There is the employment protection Bill which was to be introduced in this session but still has not surfaced.
The year is not over yet.
These high priorities do not seem to be getting much attention either.
Inflation is at 5%.
We cannot legislate for that.
Apparently, the Government cannot legislate at all.
Since the general election last year, we have had the poorest legislative performance by any Government since the foundation of the State. The lowest number of Bills have been put through the Dáil. In the course of 24 hours, we have the usual exercise by the Government where it attempts to rush Bills through at the last minute. The Intoxicating Liquor Bill was passed the other night when only seven out of 56 Committee Stage amendments were debated and there was no Report Stage debate. The Dublin Transport Authority Bill was passed with only 15 out of 108 Report Stage amendments debated.
Many of the amendments on the Intoxicating Liquor Bill were tabled by the Government. Our experience in this House shows us repeatedly that where the Government runs amendments through and guillotines the legislation, we end up with a problem being discovered in the courts with the legislation. This ends up with amending legislation having to be introduced.
The Central Statistics Office has just released the latest inflation figures which are back up to 5%.
I cannot go into that now.
A Cheann Comhairle, what we have is a lazy and incompetent Government.
An indifferent Government.
It cannot introduce legislation on time to ensure it is fully debated in the House. It uses the guillotine at the last minute and is now running for the bunker.
Will this practice of the Government bringing in legislation and amendments to it in the last week of the Dáil session end in September? Will we have a real legislative programme for the full year where the Dáil can deal with legislative proposals? I do not know how many times in the past year the Government could not keep the normal business of the House going and had to bring in one type of padding or another to fill the time. Then in the last week, the Government rushes legislation through. This is about a Government that not only cannot manage the economy, it cannot plan its legislative business from the beginning to the end of the year. There are incompetent Ministers who are not able to cut it in legislative debate, arriving in the Chamber at the last minute to amend their legislation and order the business so it cannot be debated.
On many Thursdays when I take the Order of Business, I have been asked to give Government time to discuss other issues over legislation which has been provided for, such as this afternoon.
The Government happily conceded all of that time.
Since the Government came into office, 29 Bills have been enacted and 28 Bills published. In this session, nine Bills have been published and in 2008, overall, 19 published. A number of items of legislation will be published during the summer months, which I am sure, given the exuberance of the Deputies, will be carefully read, in preparation for an exhilarating debate next session. We will have the legislative programme for the autumn over two days next week.
I want to raise the issue of pylons on foot of the information that came out yesterday. When will the electricity transfer of assets Bill be introduced in the Dáil so we can fully debate the whole issue of how electricity pylons are erected or the underground option?
I thank the Deputy for the preview.
There is no definite date as to when that legislation will be available.
I want to address the same theme as previously raised, in the context of promised legislation. This Government has essentially been castrating the House as a legislative Assembly. It seems intent on undermining our constitutional duty to hold the Government to account. In the context of that, will the Minister say when will the adoption Bill, which has been promised for eight years and is part of the legislative programme, be published?
When will we have the child care Bill, which has been promised to provide a new statutory scheme for children with special needs who require special orders in the High Court? That forms part of the current promised legislative programme.
When will we have the following promised four items, which were to come before this House for debate? The first is the report of the national review committee on the "Children First" guidelines, designed to ensure that children at risk are being properly protected. Second is the report into the reason for the delay, from 1999 until November 2007, in the completion of the report on abuse of intellectually disabled children in Brothers of Charity institutions. There is an investigation into why it took eight years to produce that report. This House was promised that by 8 July, the report would be completed, and published. It has not been made available.
Third is a report of the independent inquiry to examine the full circumstances of the tragic deaths of the Dunne family in Monageer, County Wexford. That report was to be completed by 7 July. Finally, there is a report into the development of the national children's information system. In this House we established that there is no up to date information with regard to the child protection duties being undertaken by the HSE. There is a report designed to ensure that it produces its information on time.
We were promised by the Minister of State with responsibility for children that we would see the HSE report before this House on the child protection services, just covering the years 2006 and 2007. We are now in the middle of 2008 and we do not know how well the child protection services functioned in 2006. It is a disgrace. Will the Minister tell us when we will have those two items of legislation, when the reports will be laid before the House and the reason for the delay in providing all of them?
The adoption Bill will be available in July, as will the child care Bill. On the matter of reports, I will have to revert——
This is July.
This is July. Maybe when the Deputy is on the first learning curve he might discover that there are a couple of days left in the month. I shall ask the Minister of State with responsibility for children to revert to the Deputy on the specifics of the report.
The Tánaiste will not be here.
It should have been brought before the House.
I shall ask the Minister of State to revert back to the Deputy on the reports.
A commitment was given to the effect that three of those reports would be before this House by 8 July, published, completed and available.
They will be before the House before the end of July.
Today is 10 July.
The end of July.
That is the best the Tánaiste can be expected to do on reports, as Deputy Shatter well knows.
I want to ask about two items. On the day that inflation went up to 5%, it is disappointing to hear the Tánaiste is not going to proceed, as a priority, with further legislation to protect consumers. Earlier, she told us she has other legislative priorities that have been agreed by the social partners. It is my understanding that the Employment Law Compliance Bill 2008 has not been agreed by the social partners, which is why it has been published but not brought before this House. Also, the employment agency Bill has not been published. Perhaps the Tánaiste might clarify her comments in that regard and tell the House exactly what legislation has been agreed by the social partners that she is prioritising because I do not believe that is correct.
As regards State agencies, we have had a little bit of bluster recently from the Government, where it has suddenly expressed an interest in rationalising them. In that regard, will the Tánaiste at least confirm that the following Bills on the legislative agenda that established new quangos are going to be withdrawn: the Curragh of Kildare Bill, the Irish Sports Council Bill and the education Ireland Bill?
There is no intention to remove any of those Bills from the list, in so far as I am aware.
Three of them are quangos.
Four of them are quangos.
The compliance Bill has been published and there will be further consultation, presently, as there has not been a meeting of minds on this between employers and unions. I have given an undertaking that we will follow through during the summer and discussions will take place with the social partners. On the agencies Bill, as the Deputy knows, that matter has only been completed at European level. The text is awaited, and we shall hopefully proceed with that as quickly as possible, in the context of agreement between both sides, which I believe will happen.
What the Tánaiste said earlier, therefore, was untrue. There are no Bills.
We cannot have a debate about that now.
There are other Bills, and none will be deleted——-
The Tánaiste has answered the question. Deputy Timmins is next. We cannot have a debate about it now.
Perhaps it would be best if we did not complete this session with Deputy Varadkar indicating untruths.
I object to that. The person who has indicated untruths here is the Tánaiste. She has told the House that she cannot proceed with consumer protection legislation because she has other legislation which has priority over that, which has been agreed with the social partners. She is now confirming this is not the case.
We cannot have an argy-bargy about it now. Deputy Timmins, please.
I partly agree with the Tánaiste. We should let the Government continue with the untruths. That is the way it started the session, and let it continue with it.
No prologues, please.
She should ask the Chief Whip, who is sitting beside her.
I have two issues to ask the Tánaiste about. When can we expect to see the company law (consolidation and reform) Bill? I also want to ask her about 70 hectares of IDA Ireland land in Wicklow that have not had a site visit since 2006. Will she able to get the officials in her Department to do something about it?
The Deputy will have to have a chat with her about that.
Will she reflect on an industrial site of 25 hectares in Greystones on which not one job has been created for a quarter of a century? Does she intend to make a preservation order on the site or has she any proposals for it? It has been lying idle, and for a quarter of a century——
I am sure it is of great concern, and I know how it is, but the Deputy must find other ways for raising that matter. He cannot raise it now. If I were to allow every Deputy to raise such matters we could never get to the next debate. I am sorry about that.
Although we do not have a particular date for the consolidation Bill, it is more than likely to be 2009, as it will take a considerable amount of work. The Deputy can discuss the other matter privately with me.
A list has appeared as regards what the tax strategy group is publishing, but there are significant volumes, or parts of papers, being withheld——
We cannot go into that now.
——-dealing in particular, with tax avoidance and the——
I would say the Deputy knew before she got up that she could not go into that now.
——stamp duty loophole of €260 million on VAT transactions by construction companies.
That is not a runner. The Deputy will have to find another way of raising it. It is not on.
Are we going to get the details on what tax avoidance this Government is going to continue to facilitate——
It is not possible to go into that now. Deputy Deenihan is next. We cannot go into that, Deputy Burton.
——for construction companies? What is the Government going to publish? Can we get an answer?
Deputy Burton, that is not in order.
There is a huge list of withheld items. Can we get some information on what has been published by the Government?
The Deputy should ask something that is in order and she can get all the information she wants. I call Deputy Deenihan.
When is it intended to bring forward the heritage fund Bill, and will the Tánaiste say whether it could be prioritised?
Unfortunately, I do not have a date, but we can ask the Minister to consider it.