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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 9 Jun 2011

Vol. 735 No. 1

Order of Business (Resumed)

I wish to ask about legislation, but I will preface my remarks by saying we should pay tribute to those vulnerable workers who brought the scandal of Rostrevor and what was happening to our elderly to the public's attention. Let us reflect on the question of why care of the elderly should be a profit-making enterprise in the first instance.

Regarding promised legislation, as the Minister knows, tragically unemployment rose to its highest level in the history of the State last week. Where is the legislation for phase 1 of the promised strategic investment bank, particularly given the collapse of private investment? As we have the pleasure of being presented the Order of Business by the Minister, will he take this opportunity to apologise for his insensitive insult to a group of taxpayers, namely, parents who must send their children to dilapidated schools, when he blamed them last week for the situation?

That is totally out of order. The Minister to answer on promised legislation.

The Government is in the course of implementing its programme for Government and we are considering the strategic investment back in the context of the restructuring of the banking sector. Significant progress has already been made and we will introduce measures as soon as possible. I am not in a position to give a precise date at this point.

What about an apology?

My issue relates to enacted legislation.

It is due to be reviewed in June. I am referring to the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009. My issue relates to low-paid workers who work in a number of educational institutions but are not part of the public service. They are not being paid out of the public purse, yet their wages have been cut by 5%. Is it possible to lay the review before the Dáil so that we might examine the legislation?

The Deputy is referring to enacted legislation. In that sense, I suggest the appropriate mechanism to raise the issue is a parliamentary question.

A review of the legislation is due in June.

What does the Deputy mean by "review"?

The legislation is due to be reviewed.

Can the review be laid before the Dáil?

I will raise the matter with the relevant Minister, as I am not in a position to give the Deputy a concise answer now.

On the issue of whistleblowers legislation, I have good news for the Minister — a whistleblowers Bill will be on the Order Paper next week.

We do not deal with promises.

Will the Minister comment on the Government's attitude to the Bill?

The Dáil has not seen it yet, so we cannot comment.

Let me inform the Ceann Comhairle.

Will the Deputy return to order, please?

The Minister has seen it because——

I have not seen it and neither have my colleagues.

——it is almost identical to Deputy Rabbitte's Whistleblowers Protection Bill 2010.

(Interruptions).

The Government will accept it, so.

No doubt the Government will be able to accept it and allow it to go forward. There would be no reason for any further delay.

Perhaps the Deputy will raise the matter next week when he has the Bill.

I just thought the Minister would like to know it was on the way.

Thanks very much.

No doubt he has read it many times before because those opposite are correct, in that the Bill is pure plagiarism.

I will ask my second question. In view of the speculation about Greek default——

We do not deal with speculation on the Order of Business, whether it relates to Greece or anywhere else.

Not on a Thursday.

Will Deputy Ross return to order, please?

I want to ask about legislation——

Has the Department of Finance, in co-operation with the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA, and the Central Bank, or any of those three bodies considered emergency legislation in preparation for the possibility of a default within the European——

No, we do not deal with speculation. The Minister should not reply to it, as it is pure speculation.

I am asking——

Deputy Ross has had his couple of minutes.

What about the whistleblowers legislation?

Deputy Ellis is next. I hope he will be in order.

The report on unfinished estates is due today. The Government party Whips have not had a chance to put a timetable together. I have two questions on the matter. Will legislation be required to address the issue and will we be able to debate the report on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week?

There has been a proliferation of parking meters and the inevitable clamping in small towns and villages——

I am coming to the point.

If the Deputy is raising the issue of parking meters, I suggest he contact Dublin City Council.

It has to do with promised legislation. In small towns and villages across the country, many businesses are suffering financial and job losses. The clamping regulation Bill is due to be published. When will that be and will it address the serious economic effects of clamping? For example, people in Finglas village have recently been clamped.

I thank the Deputy, but we do not need an example.

It is causing major problems.

We must move on. The Finance Bill must be debated, but we are wasting time.

I will be brief, as the Ceann Comhairle is under pressure for time. Regarding the first matter raised by Deputy Ellis, the report is to be published soon. The Minister of State, Deputy Penrose, will handle the matter. If the Deputy wishes to table questions about it to the Minister of State, he is welcome to do so. If he wishes to have the matter raised by the Whips for discussion later next week, that is a matter for his party Whip.

As far as I know, the Whips are tying it up.

The clamping regulation Bill will be enacted later this year.

When does the Government intend to introduce the proposed animal welfare Bill?

We have no date as yet for that measure.

(Interruptions).

A telephone somewhere is causing interference.

I have two questions. The Minister will be aware that the consumer and competition Bill is central to the Government's competition policy. When is its publication expected?

The programme for Government makes a number of commitments, some of which are legislative and some of which are administrative in nature, to deal with the issue of people experiencing difficulty in paying their mortgages. When will these measures be implemented?

We have no date as yet for the first Bill. We are not yet 100 days in office, but as soon as we——

When will it be published?

We have no date as yet.

It is central to the Government's policy.

Yes, and we have five years to implement it, but we are fewer than 100 days into our term. The Deputy must be patient with us in the same way we were extremely patient with him.

What about the second question?

I do not have the answer.

There is no rush to help distressed mortgageholders.

I could waffle the way the Deputy did in government, but I will not do so.

When will the Government implement the commitments?

Instead, I will find out the correct answer and communicate it to the Deputy as soon as I can.

We did not need WikiLeaks last week to tell us of the U-turn by the Minister's party leader, the Tánaiste, on the second referendum on the Lisbon treaty. All WikiLeaks has done is expose his thinking and the duplicity of the positions he took, one in public and another in private.

No introduction is necessary.

Those of us who were sincerely and genuinely opposed to the treaty pointed out that, with its passage, we would find that the decision making process would be ever more at a remove from ordinary people and elected representatives at this tier. That is exactly where we are at. We are now going to——

Sorry, Deputy. We are on the Order of Business.

My question is on promised legislation. We are now in a situation whereby, courtesy of the EU-IMF deal which the Government has now embraced, water charges are to be introduced, another major u-turn for the Labour Party. Will legislation be required to bring forward the Government's so-called proposals to introduce water charges across the country?

Is legislation promised?

If that is the case, when will that legislation be introduced and has there been any engagement with the Attorney General in relation to this particular proposal?

I remind the Deputy that he could table a parliamentary question to get an answer to this question. Is legislation in this area promised?

Legislation will be required.

When might that legislation present?

I am not in a position yet to give the Deputy that information.

This is the new politics.

When will the Government bring forward promised legislation to enable publication of the 1926 census?

I am informed that current legislation will have to be changed to provide for that. I am aware of the great success the general public had in accessing the 1911 census. We are anxious to facilitate publication of the 1926 census, which will be revealing given it is the first census taken after establishment of the State.

Does Deputy Nash wish to ask a question?

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