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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 21 Jul 2011

Vol. 739 No. 4

Order of Business

It is proposed to take No. 12, Revised Estimates for Public Services 2011 [Votes 24, 27, 39, 40, 41, 43] (back from committee); No. 13, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann for a Council decision on the signature of the agreement between the European Union and Australia on the processing and transfer of passenger name record data by air carriers to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (back from committee); No. 14, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann for a Council decision on the conclusion of the agreement between the European Union and Australia on the processing and transfer of passenger name record data by air carriers to the Australia Customs and Border Protection Service (back from committee); No. 15, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on mutual recognition of protection measures in civil matters (back from committee); No. 16, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the terms of the stabilisation and association agreement between the European Communities and the Republic of Serbia (back from committee); No. 17, motion re proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the terms of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Korea (back from committee); No. 17a, motion re Standing Orders 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 27A, 28, 32, 35, 36, 37, 40A, 68, 117, 117A and 121; No. 22 , Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 [Seanad] — Order for Report, Report and Final Stages; No.17b, Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011, motion to instruct the committee; No. 23, Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 — Order for Report, Report and Final Stages; No. a1, Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2009 — (Amendments from the Seanad); No. 24, Central Bank and Credit Institutions (Resolution) (No. 2) Bill 2011 — Second Stage (resumed); and No. 29a, Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011 — Order for Report, Report and Final Stages.

It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that: No. 1, the Dáil shall sit later than 4.45 p.m. tonight and business shall be interrupted on the conclusion of Question Time which shall be taken on the conclusion of No. 29a for 75 minutes, and in the event of a Private Notice Question being allowed, it shall be taken after 45 minutes; and the order shall not resume thereafter; No. 2, Nos. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 shall be decided without debate, and in the case of No. 12, Votes 24, 27, 39, 40, 41 and 43, shall be moved together and decided by one question which shall be put from the Chair and any division demanded thereon shall be taken forthwith; No. 3, the proceedings in relation to No. 17a shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 55 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply: (i) the speeches shall be confined to a Minister or Minister of State and to the main spokespersons for the Labour Party, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Technical Group, who shall be called upon in that order and who may share their time, and shall not exceed ten minutes in each case; (ii) a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed five minutes; No. 4, the Report and Final Stages of No. 22 shall be taken today and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 2 p.m. by one question which shall be put from the Chair and which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Justice and Equality; No. 5, the proceedings on No. 17b shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 65 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply: (i) the speeches shall be confined to a Minister or Minister of State and to the main spokespersons for Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Technical Group, who shall be called upon in that order and who may share their time and shall not exceed 15 minutes in each case, (ii) a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed five minutes; No. 6, the Report and Final Stages of No. 23 shall be taken today and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 5 p.m. by one question which shall be put from the Chair and which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government; No. 7, the proceedings on No. a1 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 30 minutes and any amendments from the Seanad not disposed of shall be decided by one question which shall be put from the Chair, and which shall, in relation to amendments to the Seanad amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs; No. 8, the resumed Second Stage of No. 24 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 7 p.m. today; No. 9, the Report and Final Stages of No. 29a shall be taken today and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 30 minutes by one question which shall be put from the Chair and which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Justice and Equality; and No. 10, the Dáil on its rising today shall adjourn until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 14 September 2011.

As there are ten proposals to be put to the House today, I will therefore need the assistance of Members. Is the proposal that the Dáil shall sit later than 4.45 p.m. today agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with Nos. 12 to 17, inclusive, agreed to?

Deputies

It is not agreed.

That proposal is not agreed. I call Deputy O'Brien on behalf of Sinn Féin.

The passenger name record agreement is due to be taken without debate and we disagree with that. The previous agreement which came before the House was between Ireland and the EU and it was the subject of a lengthy debate in this Chamber. We disagree with this agreement being taken without debate. It has far-reaching consequences for every citizen in this State and time should be allocated today to discuss it.

I call Deputy Higgins on behalf of the Socialist Party.

I am opposed to the taking of Nos. 13 and 14 without debate. I am very opposed to the taking, without debate, of No. 17, which relates to the free trade agreement between the European Union and Korea. I worked on this agreement when I was on the international trade committee of the European Parliament and there are several aspects of it that are utterly reprehensible. It forces widespread deregulation and liberalisation of Korean services with downward pressure on workers' wages and conditions. My second and final major point of objection as to why it should be debated here is that, with breathtaking hypocrisy, the European Union, which prides itself as being a paragon of environmental standards, has insisted in this trade agreement on Korea's stricter environmental law on motor car emissions being waived to allow bigger and more polluting European cars to be sold on the Korean market. It is an expression of an extreme neoliberal and right wing economic agenda. It has major implications for Korean workers in particular but also for some European workers and should be debated in the full Dáil before it is voted on.

All these proposals have been debated and considered in the respective committees. That is why we set up a committee system. That is why Members have plenty of opportunity to discuss these issues at committees. These are reports back from committees where these issues have already been discussed.

Question, "That the proposal for dealing with Nos. 12 to 17, inclusive, be agreed to", put and declared carried.

Is the proposal for dealing with item No. 17a, motion re changes in Standing Orders, agreed to? Agreed. Is the proposal for dealing with No. 22, Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011, agreed to?

I call Deputy O'Brien on behalf of Sinn Féin.

This is very expensive legislation. There are 30 amendments to it due for discussion today. It deals with more than 40 Acts ranging from the Official Languages Act to the citizenship legislation, the Civil Legal Aid Act, family law legislation and the Equal Status Acts and the time being allocated to deal with the Report Stage of this Bill is not sufficient considering the number of amendments tabled to it and that the debate on it will be guillotined at 2 p.m. I remind the Tánaiste that this Bill will probably not be opposed given that it was not opposed on Committee Stage, but we ask that sufficient time be provided to consider all 30 amendments to it.

This Bill provides for a number of reforms in civil law. There is time allocated for this today up to 2 p.m. and I believe that is a sufficient amount of time to deal with it. The Government is anxious that the Bill be dealt with and passed by the House today.

Question put: "That the proposal for dealing with No. 22 be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 89; Níl, 40.

  • Barry, Tom.
  • Breen, Pat.
  • Broughan, Thomas P..
  • Bruton, Richard.
  • Burton, Joan.
  • Butler, Ray.
  • Buttimer, Jerry.
  • Byrne, Catherine.
  • Byrne, Eric.
  • Cannon, Ciarán.
  • Carey, Joe.
  • Coffey, Paudie.
  • Conaghan, Michael.
  • Conlan, Seán.
  • Connaughton, Paul J..
  • Coonan, Noel.
  • Corcoran Kennedy, Marcella.
  • Costello, Joe.
  • Coveney, Simon.
  • Creed, Michael.
  • Daly, Jim.
  • Deasy, John.
  • Deenihan, Jimmy.
  • Deering, Pat.
  • Doherty, Regina.
  • Dowds, Robert.
  • Doyle, Andrew.
  • Durkan, Bernard J..
  • English, Damien.
  • Farrell, Alan.
  • Feighan, Frank.
  • Fitzgerald, Frances.
  • Fitzpatrick, Peter.
  • Flanagan, Charles.
  • Flanagan, Terence.
  • Gilmore, Eamon.
  • Griffin, Brendan.
  • Harrington, Noel.
  • Harris, Simon.
  • Hayes, Brian.
  • Hayes, Tom.
  • Heydon, Martin.
  • Hogan, Phil.
  • Howlin, Brendan.
  • Humphreys, Heather.
  • Humphreys, Kevin.
  • Keating, Derek.
  • Keaveney, Colm.
  • Kehoe, Paul.
  • Kenny, Seán.
  • Kyne, Seán.
  • Lawlor, Anthony.
  • Lynch, Ciarán.
  • Lyons, John.
  • McEntee, Shane.
  • McGinley, Dinny.
  • McLoughlin, Tony.
  • Maloney, Eamonn.
  • Mathews, Peter.
  • Mitchell O’Connor, Mary.
  • Mulherin, Michelle.
  • Murphy, Dara.
  • Murphy, Eoghan.
  • Nash, Gerald.
  • Naughten, Denis.
  • Neville, Dan.
  • Nolan, Derek.
  • Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
  • O’Donovan, Patrick.
  • O’Dowd, Fergus.
  • O’Mahony, John.
  • O’Sullivan, Jan.
  • Penrose, Willie.
  • Perry, John.
  • Phelan, Ann.
  • Quinn, Ruairí.
  • Rabbitte, Pat.
  • Ring, Michael.
  • Ryan, Brendan.
  • Shatter, Alan.
  • Shortall, Róisín.
  • Spring, Arthur.
  • Stanton, David.
  • Timmins, Billy.
  • Twomey, Liam.
  • Varadkar, Leo.
  • Wall, Jack.
  • Walsh, Brian.
  • White, Alex.

Níl

  • Adams, Gerry.
  • Boyd Barrett, Richard.
  • Browne, John.
  • Calleary, Dara.
  • Collins, Joan.
  • Collins, Niall.
  • Colreavy, Michael.
  • Cowen, Barry.
  • Daly, Clare.
  • Doherty, Pearse.
  • Donnelly, Stephen.
  • Dooley, Timmy.
  • Ellis, Dessie.
  • Ferris, Martin.
  • Flanagan, Luke ‘Ming’.
  • Fleming, Sean.
  • Fleming, Tom.
  • Healy, Seamus.
  • Healy-Rae, Michael.
  • Higgins, Joe.
  • Kelleher, Billy.
  • Kitt, Michael P.
  • McDonald, Mary Lou.
  • McGrath, Finian.
  • McLellan, Sandra.
  • Martin, Micheál.
  • Moynihan, Michael.
  • Murphy, Catherine.
  • Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
  • Ó Cuív, Éamon.
  • Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
  • Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
  • O’Brien, Jonathan.
  • O’Dea, Willie.
  • O’Sullivan, Maureen.
  • Pringle, Thomas.
  • Ross, Shane.
  • Smith, Brendan.
  • Stanley, Brian.
  • Wallace, Mick.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies John Lyons and Paul Kehoe; Níl, Deputies Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Seán Ó Fearghaíl.
Question declared carried.
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